Very true about the protest flag. Recently our crew was the Race Committee boat for club racing, and we witnessed a pretty severe rule violation at the start line, but the violated boat didn't have a protest flag, and tried to use a hat on the back stay instead. They knew it wouldn't be allowed so didn't file a protest (although I think the offending boat may have later taken a penalty turn as a precaution). I was surprised since these are all very experienced sailors, but I suppose it was just a Sunday club race. Presumably they would be better prepared in a more serious race, but maybe not. There are a few skippers who are very aware of the rules, and also a bit aggressive, and use this to their advantage to intimidate other boats, knowing that many will back down even if they don't have to.
-- Shawn Wright shawngwri...@gmail.com S/V Callisto, 1974 C&C 35 https://www.facebook.com/SVCallisto On Sun, Dec 22, 2019 at 3:06 AM dwight veinot via CnC-List < cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > Racing sailboats inevitably leads to collisions between boats and lots of > close calls. Collisions are not fun. Protest hearings are not fun and often > not done for non- collision encounters where rules may have been violated > therefore. Sailboat racing has a huge volume of rules which very few > sailors know and know how to apply in close quarter encounters. Without > protests and protest hearings racing can be a farce. But in my experience > protests and hearings were scarce and some boats do not even carry a > protest flag or if they do the crew does not know where to find it when it > could reasonably be used. > > On Thu, Dec 19, 2019 at 10:21 PM Robert Abbott via CnC-List < > cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > >> Racing....I don't do it anymore. But when I raced, I raced mostly with >> a core of 5 good friends, one my brother. >> >> I learned a lot over many years, on different boats, doing different >> jobs, full crew and short crew days, in all kinds of conditions. Over >> the years racing, I have spent some time on the foredeck... no one else >> wanted do it. Some days I thought that was a good thing, some days it >> was not so great....a sail change down in a heavy building breeze >> bouncing around up front in the spray...yea, this is fun. >> >> Now doing a spinnaker peel right felt really good.....especially in the >> middle of the fleet where everyone gets to see it done, and done >> smoothly. Head sails changes are done regularly but changing a >> spinnaker under sail could only be done smoothly if you had practiced >> it. We had some good races and we had some bad races. And we spent time >> practicing. We practiced to the point where, for example, where I >> could put my hand on a halyard and the pit man knew exactly what halyard >> and what to do with it without me shouting me back a command. >> >> After a race, the beers were open for the passage home. After the boat >> was docked. sails packed, etc. the first half hour was spent talking >> about the race....what did we do wrong, what went right. After that we >> normally got juvenile. >> >> In 1995, I wanted something different from racing....bought a Kirby 25 >> that we raced against as our main boat for boat competitor, the J24 >> fleet with 4 of the 5 original amigos....me and 3 of the amigos left my >> friend's C&C 34R to race the K25.......racing is totally different when >> you are on the helm and not on the foredeck when you get to a mark and >> there are 15 other boats there compared to normal handicap racing where >> twenty minutes after the start the fleet spreads out. >> >> No matter how you choose to race, it helps a lot if the crew can size up >> the competition, decide where they expect to place in their respective >> fleet....bottom 3rd, middle 3rd, or top 3rd. If you can get the crew to >> talk about this and agree, saves a lot of different expectations among >> crew. >> >> Racing is 50% boat, 50% crew and 50% luck on any given day. I have had >> the good fortune to have benefited from all three, and in a few races, >> all three! >> >> Robert Abbott >> AZURA >> C&C 32 #277 >> Halifax, N.S. >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each >> and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - >> use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray >> >> -- > Sent from Gmail Mobile > _______________________________________________ > > Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each > and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - > use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray > >
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