"hold your boat" between prep and start gone from the rules

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"hold your boat" between prep and start gone from the rules

Postby rs vernon » Thu Jun 11, 2015 11:00 am

The benevolent powers from on high removed rule 45 (and so there is no E4.5), so now there may be no rule against relaunching your boat in the last minute before the start. True?

Lester Gilbert noted it so that means something to me. "Old E4.5 has been deleted. This might be an oversight, since there seems no very good reason to delete it. Previously, old E4.5 said that a boat could not be launched after the preparatory signal and before the starting signal. Quite a few Race Committees will want this rule back, and will have to use a Sailing Instruction to do that."

Thank you

Scott
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Re: "hold your boat" between prep and start gone from the ru

Postby Capt. Flak » Sat Jun 13, 2015 3:20 pm

Boy I tell you, you read the rules all the time and each time you find something you didn't notice before.

Not sure why they would delete this rule except that maybe it has never really mattered. Let's just say Scott and I have a small tangle prior to the start and I decided to sail my boat ashore for a quick check. I am taking myself out of the sequence of a good start and will most likely be late or in a bad position when I do start. So why make me also hold the boat until the bell? Except for whatever foul between Scott and I, I have not broken any racing rules by touching my boat.

I have only seen one person win a start while being forced to hold his boat until the bell. That was Danny Thomas in Charleston and the mark just 15 feet or so from the shore with the fleet all working for position at the far end of the line. After he got done fixing his boat he held it by the transom with the sails already set for the fast reach to the mark. He simply let go of the boat when the bell sounded and he got to the mark just in time to have clear air and a great lift to cross the fleet on Port tack. Quite impressive, but I doubt he could repeat it. The distance the mark was from shore and the wind shift at the exact right moment made it work.

My point is, had he not been required to hold his boat during the one-minute, he surely would have let it go sooner and he might have sailed further down the line and not have been in as good a spot for the start.

We have always known of the rule to not touch your boat prior to the start, but has anyone ever explained why? Maybe they thought about it long and hard and said we don't need this anymore.

Unless there becomes a trend for holding your boat on shore and trying an old fashion Gran Prix start, I say we change our SI and let people touch their boats during the one-minute. If a problem shows itself, we can discuss going back to using E4.5 again if need be.
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Re: "hold your boat" between prep and start gone from the ru

Postby bigfoot55 » Sun Jun 14, 2015 9:01 am

So since there IS no E 4.5 any more, I suggest keeping it a part of all SI's. I suspect it is an oversight.

2015 EC12 NCR SI
[url]http://www.ec12.org/2015NCR/Entry.html
[/url]

I think the reason for the rule was as you suggest, someone held the boat and pushed it out to the starting line. But this has been included in SI's and is in the AMYA Handbook SI published 1984. 4.2 and 4.3. Interesting that they are more restrictive than current practice.

4.2 Unless a skipper has been granted a five minute period of time to correct a technical deficiency, no scheduled model yacht not yet launched shall be considered a starter in a scheduled heat/race after the one minute start sequence recording has been started. This will be scored DNS.
4.3 If during the one minute start countdown, a yacht is touched by its skipper or crew(for purposes of adjustment, etc) the yacht must be held until all other yachts have legally started, before being released or allowed to start.
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Re: "hold your boat" between prep and start gone from the ru

Postby rs vernon » Sun Jun 14, 2015 10:57 am

I agree with Tom that holding the boat in the last minute and releasing it (not ever pushing it) should be added to every SI or if it is not then it should be verbally added back in at the skipper's meeting.

There has always been a requirement for all boats to mill around before the start and I think that is a very important part of the test of skipper skill. No one should be able to hold their boat in safety and isolation at the shore and then simply release it with clear air and a clear path and at a beneficial time in the mind of the skipper (before the start bell).

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Re: "hold your boat" between prep and start gone from the ru

Postby Capt. Flak » Sun Jun 14, 2015 11:51 am

Good points of view here. I have no problem keeping it in the SI, since nobody has ever complained about it that I know of. But I am curious to know if it really matters and how it will change starts if at all.
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