Very informative thread, but I want to make sure I understand this:
BTW, rule 16.1 is why you must "close-out" or luff a barging boat BEFORE she gets to the committee boat. If you wait, then she no longer has room to respond to your luff and must be permitted room (it is not seamanlike to hit other boats). Racers commonly think that bargers have no rights at any time and that is simply not the case. Luff while they have an escape route or you will both be wrong.
This is only true if the leeward boat changes course to luff, right? Maybe my question needs a better description:
I'm leeward and holding a steady close hauled course that will take me right next to the committee boat.
A windward barger comes reaching in and gets his nose inside the committee boat.
Before the barger gets clear ahead, I have to bear away to avoid contact.
The barger has fouled me, correct?
Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16
Clinton, Mississippi
Correct. Your on a 16. Get used to it
Tiger Mike
Or just run over the S.O.B!
You can camoflage this into a defensible act by "looking off". When you see the barger approaching, look the other direction and don't say a word! After the carnage, say as meekly as possible,"sorry, I just didn't see you."
If you're sailing a H16, it will always come out with less damage because all the other boats are lighter and more fragile. You won't lose anything competitively, because you've already been cheated out of a fair start. If there should be a protest hearing, just don't bother to show. And remember, the more damage you do, the less likely the a** hole will be to try it again!
Of course you'll want to deny everything! Just repeat endlessly, "I'm so sorry."
