Laser Start?

Depending on the facts found I may well disagree with Brass on this. The situation as I read it is that L luffed followed by a luff by W to keep clear.
L then luffs again and W luffs in response.
This is repeated several times.

In this case every time L luffs she is bound by rule 16.1 to give room to W to keep clear.
There will reach a point where, in reply any further luff by L, W is unable to keep clear. At this point L must cease luffing. If, in reply to a luff by L, the only way for W to keep clear is to tack then L must give her room to do so.

A further consideration on a crowded start line. W must have somewhere to go. If W has another boat to windward then when L gives W room to windward that includes the space needed for W to give room to the keep clear boat to windward. Furthermore, you cannot luff a windward boat into the committee boat.

So - the question a jury would have to ask would be - did L give room to W to keep clear every time L luffed? Did W react promptly and adequately?

If L had not been giving room to W before L bears away then not only do the last luffs break rule 16.1 but so does the bear away.

On the other hand, if L had given room and W was not keeping clear then W has broken rule 11.

If W was keeping clear but the bear away was so hard that W did not have room to keep clear then L breaks 16.1.

It would be worth reading the Team Racing Call Book - calls B1, B2, C1 and C2

Gordon

The source of a protest should make no difference to the outcome; It is the PC's job to establish facts and then decide, on the basis of the established facts, if a rule has been broken.

Protests from Race Committee or judges on the water, for instance, do occur.

Gordon

Originally posted by SalsaPirates apologies but slightly off theme but related .....   As a member of a race team, if you see an infringment on the water, should you take any action? e.g.:   1. you witness an infringment and no-one does penalty turns or protests? 2. a competitor sails the worng course ....  sails to wrong mark or rounds a mark in wrong direction or hits a mark and no other competitors witness or take action?

If I saw a boat sail the wrong course, I would, as RO record its time, but not record it as a finisher in the provisional results. Have a word with them and if they dispute it, you can hold a hearing and you have all the info to re-instate them if their course was correct after all.

The race committee not recording a boat as a finisher when she has finished wouold be grounds for redress, as it is contraryto rule A5. By the time that you have "had a word" with competitor time limit might well have been reached and the RC protest might well be found invalid.

There are ISAF guidelines on what a RC and judges would protest - somewhere in the manuals. Roughly speaking anything that smacks of unfair sailing should be protested (including hitting a mark and sailing on.
Increasingly judges are being asked to more pro-active - commonly by signalling that they believe that they have seen an infringement. Any such request from a class association or organising club would be studied. I would advocate informing competitors.

Gordon

Originally posted by gordon The race committee not recording a boat as a finisher when she has finished wouold be grounds for redress,......Gordon

To finish you have to sail the course and cross the line, so if you see them not sail the (correct) course, they are DNF It happens often enough at my club, people write the course down wrong or go to the wrong buoy in RTC racing, there is rarely any dispute that it was their mistake.