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Bring back the Biff
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JimC View Drop Down
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    Posted: 11 Dec 11 at 6:17pm
Originally posted by bert

So if you can`t protest someone for impending your progress in a world championship what should you do instead ?

If the other boat was directly under the control of the organising authority or the organising authority had stated that the racecourse would be kept clear of media boats then you could try a request for redress (don't know how good your chances would be, and you might end up with average points), otherwise you're in the same position as anyone who's been cut up in Chichester harbour in a race: you can only claim redress if there's injury or damage to your boat.
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Posts: 584 		Post Options Post Options   Quote bert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 11 at 5:42pm
This was in one of the replies to the telegraph article.
"In the sailing instruction it does say media boats maybe in the race course and you can not protest for them being there."
 
So if you can`t protest someone for impending your progress in a world championship what should you do instead ??
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Posts: 3048 		Post Options Post Options   Quote jeffers Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 11 at 3:56pm
Just looked through the sequence of photos on the seceond link, he really wasn't on the media boat for that long at all.
 
Were I driving that boat I would have got the hell out of there, or at least kept far enough away that he could rant and not jump aboard (I was trying to work out how he boarded the media boat without assistance, seems the boat as that close he sailed over and jumped ship).
 
As I have said before clearly unacceptable from Ben but also clearly unacceptable from the boat driver. I hope he is being censured by the orgainisers and is not allowed to drive for the rest of the event.
Paul
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Posts: 3048 		Post Options Post Options   Quote jeffers Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 11 at 3:48pm
An Aussie press report. Not as pritsan as the UK reports but not exact damning either.
 
 
And some AU based comments here
 
Hardly damning for Ben, more damning for the powerboat driver still. Had it been a Aussie Finn sailor in contention it may have been a little more partisan but overall the reporting looking pretty balanced and they all say very similar things.
Paul
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Posts: 6661 		Post Options Post Options   Quote JimC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 11 at 3:00pm
Originally posted by jeffers

Lots of interesting comments, mostly supportive to Ben and critical of the press!

I bet its very different on non UK fora...

regards, Jim C
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Posts: 3048 		Post Options Post Options   Quote jeffers Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 11 at 11:48am
Lots of interesting comments, mostly supportive to Ben and critical of the press! Good to see in my book.
Paul
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Posts: 915 		Post Options Post Options   Quote rodney Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 11 at 10:03am

It's interesting to see the reaction of the 'general public' on Yahoo http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/10122011/58/ainslie-dq-d-media-boat-altercation.html


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jeffers View Drop Down
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Posts: 3048 		Post Options Post Options   Quote jeffers Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 11 at 8:16am
The other thing is that the RIB has an outboard on it...the driver could have just got the hell out of there avoiding this whole sorry state of affairs in the first place.
 
There was a mention about the drivers being amateur. i would say in this case as it was a media boat it is likely drivers qualifications would have been scrutinised, he would also have been throughly briefed as to where he could and could not go and from the sequences was clearly too close.
 
Not that any of the above excuses the action of Ben but, as has already been mentioned, in the heat of the moment we all do things out of character. The problem that Ben has is that he now needs to rebuild his reputation as Mr Cool in the sailing world and cannot afford any more mistakes. That is pending any further action of course, of which I, for one, hope there is none.
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marky View Drop Down
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Posts: 52 		Post Options Post Options   Quote marky Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 11 at 7:16am
Originally posted by bustinben

What I want to know is how the hell did he get out of the water and onto the rib??  It's not easy even with someone pulling you up!
Looking at the sequence it looks like he sailed alongside the RIB and jumped in.
 
Beeing part of the Finn Race Team at Sail4Gold and the Test event I have seen similiar instances involving press boats and Ben. He is the one they want to photograph and they all get as close as they can - despite being strict guidlines as to wheren they can and can't go. 
 
At  the end of the day it sounds like a 'handbags at dawn' situation that has been blown out of proportion but the incident has put sailing into the media spotlight - something that the racing never does!
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Posts: 1459 		Post Options Post Options   Quote sargesail Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 11 at 11:08pm
Yes - any sailor looking at that sequence can see there is no time for anything really serious to have happened - but board another boat and you're always in trouble.

But I've been there with boats in the way when team racing, at the same worlds as Mark mentioned, and my wife saw it at a Europeans.

And the need to milk the media must never override the quality and fairness of the event.  Perhaps with this happening to someone of Ben's profile that may now be recognised.

Because, even though I am about +10000 on Graeme's post, there was nothing that made Ben's response to the incident among the "uncontrollables", the fact is that there should never have been any reason for him to have been put in that position/made to feel like that.
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