When all boats retire.

Originally posted by Blue One Originally posted by Brass Originally posted by Blue One Originally posted by patj If only two boats started the race it sounds like you need a rule about how many boats are required on the start line for a race to start. It's set at 3 at our puddle and 4 at the big pond. Why? At our club, as long as one person wants to race, we have a race. The only exception to this is if the weather is so bad that the committee member running the race decides to abandon it. Which has never happened in my 15 years at the club Mate, this has got 'dangerously gung-ho' written all over it. I suggest that your race officers seriously need some more training and practice at race/no-race risk analysis. Think you don't know enough about us, as you've miss read it a little.  Will fill you in.  I sail on a tiny puddle ( 10 acres) in the middle of England. ( Google Mid Warwickshire Yacht Club)Its not like we sail on the sea or sidney harbour. Rescue is always close at hand and even if it wasn't, it's only like swimming the length of a swimming pool to the bank. And to finish, the reason the committee member has never needed to abandon a race is because the sailors themselves decide not to sail before the race.  We are mostly middle-aged men and women, our gung ho days are long gone. Lol.  On a personal point, I have sailed in the past at clubs that did not have rescue cover or poor rescue cover. So I am very used to doing race/ no race analysis.

Edited by Brass - 10 Feb 14 at 9:51pm

Brass - you reinforce my argument:

in a race with no time limit the race committee cannot abandon a race simply because there are no finishers. The race shall be scored and all boats will receive an appropriate score as per RRSA5. This may have some importance when a series is being scored under rule A9.

There is nothing in the rules that obliges the race committee to set a time limit. If you read J2.1(7) this states "the time limit, if any, for finishing" (my underlining). Some organisers of offshore races, for instance, prefer not (rather than fail) to set a time limit.

On the other hand, if one boat does finish  the race may still be abandoned by the race committee (subjecy to the obligation to consider the consequences for all boats: rule 32.1) or the protest committee (after taking evidence from appropriate sources: rule 64.2)

At club level, there is certainly a difference between "racing being abandoned" and an official "race abandoned". One involves a decision by the race officer, the other a lot of cold sailors sitting looking out of the window and deciding that trying to sail in that gale/through that ice is a bad idea. Like Blue One's club, it is rare that a race would be abandoned if people were keen to sail, simply because if people are keen to sail, chances are it is sailable, therefore race abandonment usually takes the form of people getting back in their cars and drifting off home.

On this OP subject, though - 1 boat has to finish for the retireds of everyone else to count, otherwise the race is simply scored like it never was? If that boat subsequently retires, or is protested, the finish still counts, though. That right?

What would be your thoughts if it was a pursuit race? Is a boat that is capsized at the finish signal still racing?

Originally posted by redders What would be your thoughts if it was a pursuit race? Is a boat that is capsized at the finish signal still racing?

Case 5 in the Case book specifically covers boats that are anchored, but includes this

Answer 1 Yes. In the preamble to Part 4, the word ‘racing’ is printed in bold italics and, therefore, it is being used in the sense stated in the Definitions (see Terminology in the Introduction). The definition Racing makes no mention of a boat that is anchored, aground, capsized or otherwise not progressing in the race. Therefore anchored boats are still ‘racing’, which means that they are protected by rule 23 and governed by the racing rules including rules 42.1 and 45.

So you can be anchored, aground, capsized or otherwise not progressing in the pursuit race and still be finished, depending on exactly what the finishing system that particular pursuit race is using.