Leeward mark

The Racing Rules prescribe certain things. It's wise to know them, at least the basics. This area discusses the finer points of the racing rules for sailing fast.

Moderators: Capt. Flak, bigfoot55, Chuck Luscomb

Re: Leeward mark

Postby marcsmith » Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:42 pm

RC.... I think a friendly discussion here is much better than what can happen on the water.....and I do agree that keeping the "anger" off the water is a good thing...I have seen my share of behavior, and been party to some behavior that is, for lack of a better term "embarrassing". We all know who the skippers are who are "never wrong" and bully other skippers into doing things that are not in the other skippers best interest.

I come from a dinghy racing background in college, and we did sail fair and cleanly, but.....if I made a mistake, whether it be a missed shift, poor start line placement, poor mark rounding, bad tack, ect. I would expect another skipper to take advantage of my mistake. With yachting, and more especially with one design racing, taking advantage of a mistake is potentially the only opportunity one has to pass another boat.

Lets say for a moment, they blue boat is no where in the picture. and yellow for whatever reason, went way wide. Maybe the skipper had the switch on the exponential throw and forgot and is now making a wide turn as a result of his rudder not going all the way over. Yellow has opened a door, made a mistake as it where, and grey is able to use that error for personal gain. how is yellows error at a leeward mark any different than an error at the start, or being on the wrong tack coming into a mark...

Personally I hate having to make a tight mark rounding to keep other boats from trying to make a play on an opening...it's slow. but if I don't make what i would consider a tactical rounding and protect the inside lane I run the risk of someone attempting the inside lane... I will say, that with the EC12, there is a much lesser chance of the inside grab....The boats handle like a school bus on ice. and 20+ lbs of momentum can keep most skippers from placing their bow in a place it should not be as it would be real easy for yellow to head up and coast and force the issue with grey if blue were not in the way. but boast like the IOM, soling , Victoria or RG65 turn on a dime, accelerate quick and can make the "smash and grab" with out the "smash".

I can totally understand how/why yellow could be angry with blue, for allowing the space for grey to slide in, and I can understand yellows anger with grey for taking advantage of the situation. At that point the frustration builds... and is yellow really angry, or merely frustrated because they made a "tactical error" or because another boat took advantage of that error or a combination of the two...

SO at this point yellow begins verbalizing their discontent with grey...when grey did nothing wrong other than taking advantage of a mistake by another skipper.

I'm not seeing the un-Corinthian behavior on grey as diagrammed. Don't get me wrong..... is it a borderline underhanded slick risky maneuver?? Yup on all counts... Not sure I'd have the brass to pull it off, but if i was on the ouside(yellow) looking in...I'd be one frustrated skipper and chances of me trying ot call grey out on it and be "uncorinthian", would be very good...
2081 EC12, 1575 EC12 Both For Sale
81 Victoria
181 RG65
1981 Soling 1 Meter
681 IOM under construction
marcsmith
 
Posts: 80
Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:30 am

Re: Leeward mark

Postby greerdr » Sun Nov 18, 2012 6:20 pm

Let's sail together.
I know most of the nationally active EC-12 skippers,and know how they sail.I'd expect you will be someone I can communicate with going into this mark and we all come out satisfied that we did the right thing.I want us to be knowledgable of rules,use them always to our advantage,and not try to intimidate another skipper.
I don't know about you Marc;I am am old man who enjoys this sport a great deal and want to keep it as pleasant as possible for everyone.
This bottom mark deal is a frequent issue of contention-I thank you for your presentation-and hope the thread followers have benefitted from our discussion.
R.C.Greer
greerdr
 
Posts: 670
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2003 5:39 pm

Re: Leeward mark

Postby marcsmith » Sun Nov 18, 2012 6:46 pm

RC,

would not surprise me if we have sailed against one another... we both sail Ec12 and S1M. Fairly active fleets (older demographic fleets) @ 40 I am now entering that "older demographic"... I'v had my 12 down in Fl a couple times
The key is, sailing by the rules should not be contentious, but it often is as folks (mis)understand the rules differently...

I agree that being able to sidle up to the skipper on the shore line and converse about intentions prior to entering the mark goes a long long way to having a nice, confrontation free afternoon.
2081 EC12, 1575 EC12 Both For Sale
81 Victoria
181 RG65
1981 Soling 1 Meter
681 IOM under construction
marcsmith
 
Posts: 80
Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:30 am

Re: Leeward mark

Postby greerdr » Sun Nov 18, 2012 7:08 pm

As Baron Bremer says "Perfect" and wave your hands.
R.C.Greer
greerdr
 
Posts: 670
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2003 5:39 pm

Re: Leeward mark

Postby marcsmith » Sun Nov 18, 2012 7:23 pm

greerdr wrote:As Baron Bremer says "Perfect" and wave your hands.


never take your hand off the sticks.... :)
2081 EC12, 1575 EC12 Both For Sale
81 Victoria
181 RG65
1981 Soling 1 Meter
681 IOM under construction
marcsmith
 
Posts: 80
Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:30 am

Previous

Return to Sailing with the RRS

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest

cron