Bring back the Biff

Many years ago (20+?) another Finn sailor got banned for 5/6 years I think for attacking another competitor with a paddle - sorry couldnt find the details in Google.
From the information available I would venture BA is 'lucky' to have been let off so lightly
The thing I cannot understand is why Mr Cool BA reacted the way he did, probably several minutes elapsed between the incident and him choosing to visit the media boat. He was in a strong position overall and in a good position for the medal race.
I have been on media boats worldwide and yes the quality of these UNPAID and AMATEUR drivers varies greatly, they are however briefed by race management where they cannot go. Furthermore they also get practical advice from the still photographers as usually they know where to go to get the the closeup shots but not obstruct. TV/Video are a different story and tend to bully their way around the course. So I suspect the TV guys were presurising the driver to get in close.
That said it is no excuse for BA to take the law into his own hands, there is a process for this, thats what Sparky and BA's coaches are for after the race
BA has acted in a not dissimilar way to Wayne Rooney, which leads me to think there maybe underlying reasons for this out of character reaction

And the media boat driver? I hope he gets a ban from driving a bloody boat at any regattas in future..

Originally posted by Contender 541 the RYA will look to kill the story as quickly as possible

Maybe so, but they are not the key party. The Australian Federation and ISAF themselves are the ones that count most here.

There seem to be a number of banned conpetitors at any time, but unless the incident makes the english speaking sailing press I've never managed to find out what the cicumstances leading to a ban were. Thus its difficult to evaluate what ISAF might do. The only vaguely similar one I know of, an incident involving an American which was arguably even worse then this one, resulted in a two year ban.

Originally posted by bustinben If you look at the sequence he's just stepping over him to dive off the bow.

If you look at the sequence he's just stepping over him to dive off the bow.