Touching a starting mark

If I'm starting right on the pin, and after my bow crosses the line I clip the pin, have I committed a foul?   I think most would say "yes".

Rule 31: TOUCHING A MARK
While racing, a boat shall not touch a starting mark before starting, a mark that begins, bounds or ends the leg of the course on which she is sailing, or a finishing mark after finishing.

The definition of start:

A boat starts when, having been entirely on the pre-start side of the starting line at or after her starting signal, and having complied with rule 30.1 if it applies, any part of her hull, crew or equipment crosses the starting line in the direction of the first mark.

So from the above it would seem that since I touched the starting mark after starting, I'm OK - unless the starting mark is deemed to begin or bounds the leg of the course I'm on in which case I'm not OK.

I guess the question is, is the first leg bounded by the starting mark?

On reflection I think my money is on 'yes it is' but it would be good to know for sure.

Mike

Yes. 

Edited by Presuming Ed - 23 Dec 12 at 6:24pm

Originally posted by MikeBz I don't think you can be 'still starting', from the book the definition of 'start' is:

I think perhaps you're looking at it the wrong way: the "before starting" is required because until you have actually started you are not sailing on a leg of the course.

So the middle subclause is the main one - you shall not touch a mark on your current leg, and that includes a start mark after starting and a finish mark before finishing.

Then it adds to that:
- you shall not touch a start mark before starting (when you are not yet on a leg of the course) and
- you shall not touch a finish mark after finishing (when you are no longer on a leg of the course).

The wording is quite economical in that it enables you to touch any mark that is not currently relevant to your course.

Edited by JimC - 23 Dec 12 at 11:15pm

Having sat down and thought about it I honestly don't think its gray.

Until you start you are not on a leg of the course.
After you finish you are not on a leg of the course.

As soon as you start you are on one or another leg of the course for the whole race.
So lets go back to the rule again:
"a mark that begins, bounds or ends the leg of the course on which she is sailing"

I don't think there can really be any doubt that start marks and finish marks respectively begin and end the leg that you are currently sailing on.

So why does the phrase have the bit about before starting and after finishing?
Well, consider, supposing it didn't. If you take out the "before starting" and "after finishing" then the result is that you have to take a penalty for touching a start or finish mark if you touch them when you are on a completely different leg of the course, which is not what's intended. So you'd have to end up with a rule that looked something like this:-

Not Rule 31: While racing, a boat shall not touch
a) a starting mark, unless the boat has started and the boat has completed the first leg of the race
b) any mark that begins, bounds or ends the leg of the course on which she is sailing,
c) a finishing mark, unless the boat has not finished and is not about to finish.

Think we're better off as we are!