To Whom It May Concern-
Firstly, Intrepid Cup hosted by the Naval Academy, was an incredible
regatta in which I was happy to have participated. The competition was
excellent, the competitors exhibited the Corinthian Spirit of Sailing,
and I'm very grateful to the large number of race officials and umpires
that donated their time to make this event possible; I think they did a
great job.
Although this was my last college regatta with Cornell, I would like to
address some serious injustices that need to be avoided in future
events. These issues are especially important with Sloops moving to a
match racing format.
During the onshore postponement on Sunday, the race officials gathered
in front of the competitors and began discussing how to finish the
regatta. Because the race officials did not meet in private, the new
racing format was agreed upon by the chief umpire and PRO, with more
than ample input and complaining from coaches and the event
organizer/coach. Those teams which didn't have a coach, had a coach who
chose not to berate the umpires, or weren't represented by the
overzealous event organizer were disadvantaged.
I don't think it was appropriate for the racing format to be modified
with such forceful input from interested parties. The sailing
instructions specified the format to be decided upon by the PRO and
chief umpire, not coaches and the event organizer. Race officials should
not be expected to make such crucial decisions with such pressure and
biased-unwelcome input; this why these decisions should have been made
in private.
The decision to discard the incomplete round robin because of lack of
wind is especially suspect considering last year's event. At that time,
it was determined that no change to the racing format was necessary
despite a 2 hour onshore wind delay; the round robin was sailed as close
to completion as possible and any ties in points were resolved by the
tie breaking rules outlined in the Racing Rules of Sailing Appendix C.
For those unaware, "points" are the number of wins, the traditional
scoring method.
Also, despite the official ICSA notice, the knockout "tournament" was
not completed before the time limit, which requires no /starting/ signal
made after 1400. The penultimate match was still in sequence 3 minutes
after 1400 with more than 2 minutes to the starting signal.
I would have liked to more explicitly reference the "sailing
instructions," which were modified extensively with minimal notice, but
they are not at hand. We've requested another copy of the sailing
instructions via email and have not yet heard back. Although this was
short notice, they should have been made public prior to event, such as
with Promotional Keelboat Regatta and almost all keelboat regattas. I
volunteered my copy for a draw from a hat that was later disregarded
after the umpires were sufficiently berated by a coach discontent with
the results of the draw. Perhaps I can explicitly reference the sailing
instructions when they are made available, however, I wanted to make my
opinions public in a timely manner.
For future events, I think it is essential that sailing instructions lay
out an exact format of racing, and are not subject to change once teams
have their own interests conflicting with the best interest of fair
competition. This is very important considering lack of wind or time is
a relatively common occurrence. Discarding an entire day worth of
results in a two day regatta in favor of a "knockout tournament" (not to
be confused with a knockout series, as defined in the sailing
instructions) is completely unacceptable.
Although I recognize loose sailing instructions and rule applications
are an all too common occurrence in college sailing, I feel this event
was well past any acceptable level of rule interpretation or sailing
instruction "amendments." While the instructions did say "the PRO and
chief umpire reserve the right to change the racing format at any time
without restriction," this is not a power that should be used frequently
and/or without serious contemplation.
To quantify my arguments, I've included below a summary of wins and
losses for the entire event, which were not included in the ICSA email.
This summary is ordered by the final results of event, as they stand.
If anyone has thoughts on the matter, I'd be interested in hearing them,
especially from other teams involved.
Thanks for reading,
Ian Cook
Ben Raper, Katie McNeill, Steven Novak
1. Navy 7-3
2. Hobart / William Smith 7-3
3. Cornell 7-1
4. Maine Maritime 3-5
5. Chapman 6-2
6. Northwestern 4-4
7. Coast Guard 4-3
8. Michigan 2-5
9. Virginia 3-4
10. NY Maritime 2-5
11. Kings Point 1-5
12. George Washington 0-6
On 4/25/2010 4:52 PM, Ian Burman wrote:
2010 Intrepid Trophy
US Naval Academy
April 24-25, 2010
The 2010 Intrepid Trophy began with a talented field, great race committee
and outstanding umpires all with nothing to do as the wind forgot to show up
for the morning. The fleet left the dock to drift for a while before coming
in for an early lunch break. The wind began to fill at around 1230 and the
competitors headed back out to the course to begin racing. PRO Taran Teague
and her Race Committee from NASS made the most of the shifty conditions,
getting off five flights over the course of the afternoon. The fleet was
split into two groups of six teams for the beginning of the round and the
five flights allowed for complete round robins among those groups.
On Sunday morning, a lack of wind forced a postponement ashore and
eliminated the possibility of completing the 12 team round robin. The
alternate format that was agreed upon by the Umpires, Race Committee and OA
was for the top four teams in each round robin to sail a championship
knockout round, with consolation knockouts for the other four teams and the
teams eliminated in the first round of the championship bracket. A light
northeasterly breeze eventually settled in and the alternate format was
completed just in time for the 1400 cutoff. In the end, Navy beat out
Hobart and William Smith Colleges 2 to 1 in the Finals to claim the victory
in the 2010 intrepid Trophy. Congratulations to Navy sailors Jason
Carminati '12, James Allsopp '11, Tim Murphy '10, and Bobby Nordlund '12.
The umpires held a very informative debrief at the end of racing both days
and all in attendance were able to gain significant insights. The umpire
team consisted of Chief Umpire Sandy Grosvenor, Jeff Borland, Chris
Petracco, Dobbs Davis, Ric Crabbe, Dan Trammel, Hugh Elliot, Dave Clinnin,
Tim Borland, and Herb Larrabee. A complete Won / Loss grid, Knockout
Bracket results and RP Information are attached.
FINAL STANDINGS
1. Navy
2. Hobart / William Smith
3. Cornell
4. Maine Maritime
5. Chapman
6. Northwestern
7. Coast Guard
8. Michigan
9. Virginia
10. NY Maritime
11. Kings Point
12. George Washington
Ian Burman
Head Coach
Navy Sailing Team
410.293.5617
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