Drop the discards?

D'oh, you're right of course. I had a recollection of a couple of incidents where people got clobbered while unusually far down the pack and got redress, and I ignored the majority of situations. 

I do seem to recall that it's harder to give redress to a boat that's further back in the pack than they usually are, compared to redress between boats at the the front or in their usual place. You got disabled while passing to take the lead? Ok, you get first. You got disabled while sitting in your normal 20th place? Ok, take 20th. You got disabled while in 10th at the first mark in an event where in every other heat you gained 10 places after the first mark? Hmmm, giving you 10th place on redress would be implying that it would have been the only heat in which you had not moved up during the race. That's a tough call.

I can recall reading about events before discards and alternative penalties, where owners would build new boats, ship them across the world, and have their series end on the starting line of the first event. That's even when the boats were being sailed by people who were known as conservative seamen. Such incidents led to people deciding that the no-discard rule meant that a minor error was too likely to cause a disproportionate penalty.

By the way, congrats on the big win!

I can't see redress being a big issue. Few people get injured. Few rule infringements result in damage which significantly slows the boat. So for most 'protest' incidents no redress is available.

And when the rules allow redress, the first two options in the guidance are fairly reasonable wherever you are in the rankings.

There is a minor issue, if a boat scores 2,2,2,BFD,3,1 in a series with a discard, then gets holed in the last race, should the BFD be discarded from the points to give her a second as redress?

As long as there are discards, this is an acknowledgement that sailing racing is a competition in which random chance is an expected factor, and is comprehended within the rules.

Well said Jim - that is a point that had to be made and made well. As I travel around to various events, increasingly I'm seeing that it is the middle fleet competitors who are staying away. 

Not so long ago I was at an event and in the bar afterwards, listened with interest to a well known star of the sailing scene bemoaning the actions of  some mid-fleet sailors. After being called OCS (luckily on a P flag start) he'd gone back, restarted and was now keen to blast his way back towards the front of the fleet. Heading down the first reach (triangle-Sausage course) he went to sail over the top of some mid-fleeters (rabbits was one of the less abrasive terms he used for them) only to find himself being luffed up way above the lay line. These no-hopers, he declared, had spoilt his race! It was hard to feel any sympathy for him and that 'them and us' attitude, despite the fact that it is the 'them' in this situation, who by buying his products, where making his presence at the event possible!

There is enough flexibility in the Rules for both - for those small, high profile fleet, by all means drop the discard but for the majority of the dinghy sailing community, leave things as they currently stand!

D