Latest legal Laser tweaks????

I wonder if that pushing the limits and rule breaching is a fairly common trait of certain psyches; as such, the rigidity in the rules of the boat, means that the same proportion of folks with this character trait, who just happen to sail them, push the limits through kinetics and rules observation, rather than boat modification....

just some low-rent pop psychology.... I choose my words carefully when posing the initial question.  FWIW, I don't think you can characterise any one class as cheaters anymore than any other.  At every club I've sailed at for the past 30 years, we know who they are and generally speaking, we've done very little about it- be it rocking, penalty observation etc.  It's not age or boat choice driven, if I was to cast aspersions at these folks, then I'd say they're all quite good sailors, just not as good as think they should be.  I feel sorry for them actually.... I'd far rather be at the back and surprise myself on occasion with a mid fleet result, than have to cheat and piss folks off just to get into the lower echelons of the leading pack.       

Interesting thought. Along the same lines, the fewer rules there are then perhaps the fewer rules you can break. I have a rival with a very illustrious world-level record who has in the past proven himself to be very happy to break right of way and measurement rules, but in a discipline where there are basically no rules even he can't find anything to break.

BTW that guy didn't sail Lasers much.

Sounds normal. Having the mainsheet stopper knot come undone is a significant problem, as I have found to my cost too many times. In a decent breeze getting the boat sailing again can be a difficult exercise and therefore it's a safety issue.

The a-holes are not the people who use the experience of decades of racing to prevent this kind of thing, but the people who sit on the sidelines without any actual knowledge of the issues and throw insults around.

This sort of thing happens in all sports. If my bike seat moves forward when I'm bicycle racing, I may be DSQd. If I accidentally failed to fill in my scoresheet correctly when playing golf, I get DSQd. If I don't comply with the radio check requirements when ocean racing, I may be DSQd.

If you don't play by the safety rules, you may get DSQ'd. Not a new concept to most of us.

Having run a few nationals I'm fairly sure that they just want to be able to identify you on the finish and results sheets, and they also want to encourage people to have the proper numbers by telling them that there is no advantage in not doing so.

Those who spend their hard-earned holidays running races so that other people can have fun are surely entitled to encourage people to have the right numbers when it makes the job of finishes and results easier?