Sail-World.com : Andrew Campbell - The Starting Line - Can you show me where it is?
|
Andrew Campbell - The Starting Line - Can you show me where it is? |
Andrew Campbell poses the question - The Starting Line - Can you show me where it is? Is it even there?
After spending a weekend back on the college circuit, helping Coach Callahan and Georgetown Sailors Chris Barnard and Charlie Buckingham at the Singlehanded Nationals in Corpus Christi, one glaring question still sticks in our minds: Can somebody please define the term: starting line?
Sailors who appeared to be winning the pin end at starts were called OCS throughout the regatta leaving many, including the coaches frustrated and scratching their heads. With only 18 Lasers, the line could afford to be quite short, and the college procedures allow for the race committee to be aggressive about calling boats over the line (the committee boat was a 30-foot power boat and an 5-foot-wide orange tetrahedron for the pin-end). But, when the pin-most boat in each and every race was being called over the line, there was clearly a miscommunication about where the line was being sighted.
It took some sweet talking but one of the sailors finally got the interpretation from the committee boat: 'If you’re bow is overlapped at all with the tetrahedron at the gun, you’re OCS.'
This prompted some serious groans from the coach boat where the general interpretation was that boats are usually allowed to overlap the pin (especially if the pin is five feet wide), so long as they don’t make the pin disappear at the gun. Basically, if the pin disappears, the boat is OCS. After about ten minutes of discussion and rule-book flipping we were shocked that our interpretation could not be justified by a rule or definition. Usually the description of the starting line is somewhere in the sailing instructions, but it simply said it would be 'between an orange flag on a staff attached the committee boat and an orange tetrahedron.' There was no distinction between the front of the buoy or the back of the buoy. Can the starting line really be that fuzzy? Is it as thick as the pin mark? Is the starting line five feet wide?
There are a couple theories to be applied here.
Argument: The tetrahedron is a mark of the course, therefore it is in the course. If you are overlapped with something in the course, then you must be on the course side of the starting line, ie OCS.
Counter argument: However, if the starting line is between the committee’s flag and the mark (as defined in the SIs), then the line must terminate somewhere on the tetrahedron. If any overlap means that you are on the course side, then the line must run through an indeterminable point less than 1mm behind the tetrahedron and therefore does not meet its defined requirements.
So goes the argument, and it has led to some interesting discussion. Where does the starting line exist? Is it simply up to the PRO, like the strike-zone is up the umpire? Ultimately the situation is easily solved by using a pin boat and an orange flag with a staff on both ends. However, are the sailors to use the line between the staffs, or the line between the downwind-most edge of the flags as they flap in the breeze? What if it’s light air and the flags are droopy?!? What if they’re moving!?! I think there is room for a better definition here. Anybody have any ideas? Feel free to comment at CampbellSailing.com.
Next event on the calendar is the Star South Americans next week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Stay tuned for updates.
by Andrew Campbell
12:12 PM Fri 13 Nov 2009 GMT
Click here for printer friendly version
Click here to send us feedback or comments about this story.
If you want to send this story to a friend, please use link below
http://www.sail-world.com/USA/Andrew-Campbell---The-Starting-Line---Can-you-show-me-where-it-is?/63259
Click for further information on
US Sailing
Related News Stories:
MORE STORIES ...
|
Based on your current download speed Sail-World has delivered large images (660 pixels long side.) If you would like to see only small images (300 pixels long side)
click here . For medium sized images (500 pixels long side)
click here .
| |
