Blatant pumping in Olympic sailing - OK with that?

Originally posted by rogue well it seems quite clear there is zero clarity, therefore the rules as they stand are a complete arse.. the simple approach of either 'allow pumping' or 'no pumping' seems the only real way forward. Windsurf racing has evolved from this, some classes outright ban pumping- Kona One, whereas other are a pumpfest, Raceboard Class. If you can be bothered to race boards, you pick the appropriate class for your desires. I think it's quite legitimate for a group of local sailors to say 'no pumping, no tolerance' to improve their own local enjoyment of the sailing, the same way a class association might ban it from their circuit events. Whereas the Olympics (thread relevant) to make the pumping unrestricted whatever the wind strength and indeed some performance classes, might also allow unrestricted pumping for their circuit ruleset. It's fairly binary- anything other total ban or unrestricted pumping is impossible to police and just leads to confusion and frustration.

You are allowed to roll a boat to faciltate steering - but the roll must be commeasurate with the change of course.

The bow wave test is as good as any to decide whether the roll is for steering or for speed - asfor a roll tack if the boat chnages course and then acclerates up to straight line speed then there is no problme. If the boat accelerates then subseuently slows then the roll was propulsion, breaking rule  42.

Gordon