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Brass
Really should get out more Joined: 24 Mar 08 Location: Australia Online Status: Offline Posts: 1146 |
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Topic: Rules Observance Posted: 22 Sep 17 at 12:50am |
What can you do if it seems that there are some of your competitors
who don’t have a very high regard for sportsmanship and fair play, and are
breaking rules? What if his seems to be concentrated around certain specific
parents or coaches? Here are some preliminary things I suggest, before going too
much further:
Here are two articles by Dick Rose that may be helpful
Who’s had successful experience in dealing with this sort of problem? What works well and what doesn’t? Edited by Brass - 22 Sep 17 at 7:55am |
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sargesail
Really should get out more Joined: 14 Jan 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1459 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 22 Sep 17 at 1:08pm |
Brass,
Some really interesting food for thought there. I like the two Dick Rose articles you cite too. Last weekend saw a version of one of his suggestions used, with a large proportion of the fleet yelling, 'do your turns' at a persistent offendor. It will be interesting to see if it has made any difference to behaviour this weekend. I'll let you know. Matt
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davidyacht
Really should get out more Joined: 29 Mar 05 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1345 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 22 Sep 17 at 2:41pm |
As I see it, most of the unresolved rule infractions I see relate to; crashing in on port at the windward mark in front of starboard tackers; dubious calls for room at the leeward mark, often kinetically assisted and kinetics. Most of the other stuff is simple port and starboard and windward leeward which most of us can understand and manage. Generally offenders get away with it because at the pressure points on the course you simply have too much going on in your boat to worry about others, and frankly the red mist is counter productive to the big picture. The reaching finish from a leeward mark, that seems to be derigeur puts a huge pressure on pumpers, rockers and oochers to do their stuff to secure inside berth at the leeward mark ... this might work at the Olympics with 25 boats and lots of umpire boats, but is not a lot of fun in a big fleet if you are trying to be legal, when those around you are not. This is probably why I will not attend any more championships. Perhaps scaling the length of legs to the size of the fleet should be considered, even if this means longer races. Umpire boats have a big impact for the good, and it is interesting how some front runners disappear into mediocrity if an Umpire boat is on the course. Racing in flights might also result in better rule observance and hence greater enjoyment. Another aspect is that there are sailors who think that anything is fair game unless they hear the word "Protest", in a club fleet you get to know who they are, at a championship it may be less easy. Our club fleet had a bit of a Rule 42 problem, particularly going through light patches in the wind, the giveaway being standing up in the boat; peer pressure has done a lot to reduce this; I think that we took whistles out on the water and blew them when we saw an infraction. Also we got a rules guru to come down and talk to the club, although the worse offenders never turned up to the talk. |
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Happily living in the past
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ohFFsake
Far too distracted from work Joined: 04 Sep 08 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 219 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 18 Oct 17 at 10:50pm |
Brass, as ever, seems to have most of the good ideas covered!
We had a load of trouble with this a few years ago with some members of the junior fleet at my club at the time. Aside from agreeing with the points made so far, I can perhaps contrast this advice with some observations about what doesn't work... Beware the passive/aggressive approach! When people routinely break the rules don't just ignore it and hope it goes away, whilst inwardly seething. It just gets worse until it reaches a point when you kind of have to do something about it, at which point you are now trying to address a big problem rather than a small one. In our case it all got brushed under the carpet due to a well intentioned desire not to fall out with everyone, until the rule breaking escalated to a point something had to be done. So the club had its first protest meeting for about 20 years which was handled badly and turned into a farce. So all that achieved was to reinforce the belief that "anything goes" and if anything it got worse. For us the situation never really improved and was one reason why we switched clubs. So yes, in hindsight I would suggest a more successful approach would be to try and nip things in the bud by small interventions whenever there is a problem; try to encourage peer pressure to lean on the habitual rule breakers so as to engender a culture where it isn't considered cool to break the rules, and go down the arbitration route as a less confrontational way of dealing with potential protests.
We did consider jury boats but I think it would have been a bad move. Club racing really should be self policing. |
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Sam.Spoons
Really should get out more Joined: 07 Mar 12 Location: Manchester UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 3398 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 18 Oct 17 at 11:58pm |
It can be very hard to manage, I grew up doing turns (well, actually retiring, t'was before 'turns' were invented) if I hit an mark or failed to cross someone when on port tack etc, but I also grew up in the era of unlimited luffing etc. I also grew up in a club where rule observance was just the done thing (but so was doing duties as allocated so we only ended up doing a couple a year). It's different now and, after 30 years racing Raceboards and Div 1 I'm well aware that certain sections of the racing community treat the rules as something to ignore if nobody is watching and to try to get away with otherwise. When I first started racing Div 1 sailboards I used to re-round a mark if I touched it, even if nobody saw me, I was the only one who did and it was a long time before I could reconcile myself to levelling the playing field and stop doing that (then they changed the rules and allowed Raceboards t touch marks......). I always did (and still do) encourage the mindset that if you break a rule and go on to win you haven't really won..... I'm now, effectively, a newb racer at a club I was a member of 50 years ago and am back to re-rounding if I touch a mark (it just wouldn't feel right if I didn't).....
Edited by Sam.Spoons - 19 Oct 17 at 9:06am |
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GML
Groupie Joined: 24 Jul 11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 94 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 19 Oct 17 at 9:09am |
Sam, the penalty for touching a mark is a one-turn penalty (a '360' as some would call it). You don't have to go around the mark again (and you are required to keep clear of other boats while taking your penalty, so doing your penalty around the mark is probably a bad idea).
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H2
Really should get out more Joined: 26 Jul 17 Online Status: Offline Posts: 749 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 19 Oct 17 at 10:15am |
I grew up in large competitive fleets as part of the RYA youth development squads 25 years back and observing the rules was drummed into us. Now I sail on a small pond and in general rules seem to be quite well observed by most but there are some interesting dynamics that I have observed sailing in the handicap fleet or around 30 boats that regularly race. The Flying 15s seem to have their own rules...a common instance is that they pile into the windward mark on port and tack under the starboard boats using momentum to squeeze around the mark whilst head to wind. People seem to just accept this and luff a little as they know if they do not they will get a whack. Often the 15 then also hits the windward mark but no one does anything. Infringements between the 15s whilst in the handicap fleet also result in no action even if the rest of us yell at them.
I am fairly new at the club - well actually been there a few years but sailed at the back of the fleet with one of my kids as crew for fun but recently bought a singlehander and have surprised people that when I want too I can win races (am leading the Frostbite series currently). I do not want to rock too many boats as people are just coming to terms with me being a competitor and realising I do know my stuff but at the same time I would love advice on how to address these issues!
Edited by H2 - 19 Oct 17 at 10:16am |
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ohFFsake
Far too distracted from work Joined: 04 Sep 08 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 219 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 19 Oct 17 at 10:44am |
H2, I'm guessing the club has a bit of a "no protests" culture?
It's difficult when everyone is there to have a relaxing bit of fun, you don't want to be seen as the one who's going all "sea lawyer" about it, but I think it is equally valid to feel that one's relaxing bit of fun is marred if others don't follow the rules. I would suggest that the next time there is a clear incident, call "protest" then politely but insistently ask the offender to do turns, and keep talking to them until you get some form of acknowledgement (be it positive or negative). If they sail on catch up with them an hour after the race in a calm and non-confrontational way and talk through the incident with the relevant rule to hand as reference. If you are patient about then you ought to be able to agree upon an interpretation of the rules, assuming you first agree on the facts. If you don't agree on the facts try again on another day and if possible point the facts out at the time, eg "look I'm only 1 length from the mark - you can't have room" or whatever. Much harder to then use that as a point upon which to dismiss the conversation later. With persistence you may change behaviour without ever taking it further and upsetting everyone. It may be that the behaviour only changes when you are involved but that's fine - it fixes the problem for you and it sets an example to anyone else for how to spread the word. If it has no effect at all then arbitration meetings seem to be a good way forward and are about as non-confrontational as is feasible in the circumstances. Also, if you've already had two or three conversations about the same issue previously you will be much surer of the facts and better able to present your case successfully. At club level it is very likely the people adjudicating won't be terribly familiar with the rules so a clearly presented case with all the appropriate rules already applied is much, much more likely to result in a fair outcome... ...which is even more the case if and when something goes to an actual protest hearing. My experience of this is to avoid if at all possible as it is very unlikely a small club will be able to get a PC together that will run the process and apply and interpret the rules properly, despite all the best intentions.
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davidyacht
Really should get out more Joined: 29 Mar 05 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1345 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 19 Oct 17 at 10:58am |
There are some persistant Rule 42 offenders who if I know are sailing and it is light winds would cause me not to bother to compete. And others who regard Rule 42 only to apply if someone vocally objects. In both cases, somehow feel that I am the villain.
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Happily living in the past
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ohFFsake
Far too distracted from work Joined: 04 Sep 08 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 219 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 19 Oct 17 at 11:04am |
One isolated success we had with a persistent rule 42 offender was when a few of us pre-arranged to chant "heeeeeaaaave!" in time with his rocking. It got to the stage where 5 or 6 were joining in and it was hilarious when he eventually worked out the connection with his actions.
It wasn't my idea but it worked, and it did so in a light hearted way. Wish I could come up with some other ideas as good!
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