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At Stewartby it was abit like dodgems. I have had several complaints that competitors were "taken out" and there were neither penalty turns nor protests. I know of several collisions and no penalty turns were done.
I'm not a big fan of protests in our friendly class. How about a bit more decipline about doing turns (and asking for turns)when the situation requires it. This should include all cases where knocks occur.
Let's shape up.
Thanks
Bob
I absolutely agree with you Bob, but in fairness to the competitors ,Stewartby themselves may well have unwittingly contributed to the fracas , particularly in race 1 with 2 glaring errors.
1. The start line was incredibly starboard biased to the point where the 'lucky' inside boat going for coffin corner was virtually on the lay line to the windward mark - you may recall !! This line bias resulted in the inevitable bunching , with many overlapping boats luffing each other up and all pointing at the mark with the obvious consequences . Also , once at the windward mark , everyone then had to swiftly tack onto port , successively exposing themselves(if you pardon the expression) to the ones close behind , still approaching on starboard .
2. The start line itself was less than 100 yds from the 1st mark , and therefore did not allow much opportunity for the boats to spread out in time before the melee occurred .
This appeared to have been done purely for convenience , since the start line transit was set in front of the R.O.D box , but perhaps without sufficient thought given to the potential consequences thereafter.
Suffice to say , the start line for race 2 was set considerably further back and at a much better angle , such that there was a degree of port bias which I managed to take advantage of , but more importantly it gave everyone the opportunity to spread out , and at least go for clear air, whilst also almost doubling the length of the 1st leg.
Clearly lessons were learnt from race one by all , but of course , that still does not exonerate anyone from dutifully 'doing their circles' when infringing the rules , so come on guys - KEEP IT SMOOTH AND KEEP IT CLEAN , BUT ABOVE ALL KEEP IT FAIR AND FRIENDLY .
Paul Smith 1900
