Start Line Collision

 

But how often do crew witnesses bring anything new to the table? IME, they tend to tell a very similar story to the boats' original representatives. They're generally sitting somewhere similar, and rarely in the right position. For judging the establishment of overlaps, you want someone placed where a wing umpire would be. Outside that, I don't see why 2 people from one boat - especially dinghies, where people are sitting next to each other - saying "we had an overlap" holds any greater weight than one person saying the same thing.

Originally posted by Roger Surely this could be quite an issue in mixed fleets where 2 person boats are racing against, and maybe involved in a protest with, a singlehander. Assuming all witnesses are credible does the evidence from the 2 crew on one boat therefore carry more weight than the one in the singlehander?

The way in which evidence should be weighed by a protest committee can hardly be expected to vary because boats are one or two handed.

It could also be argued that the evidence of a single-hander was less credible because the single-handed skipper had a greater range of necessary tasks than any one of the crew of a crewed boat, and thus may have had less perfect observation and recall.

That's the way of things.