How do people feel about a competitor listening to an ipod while racing and therefore not being able to hear hails and protests? And sometimes not being able to hear a hail that could have avoided a situation.

Scott

Not really a fair way to race. If they can't "hear" what's going on around them are they not in breach Rule 2.

2 FAIR SAILING
A boat and her owner shall compete in compliance with recognized
principles of sportsmanship and fair play......

IMHO if they are "zoning out" they are not being sportsman like as they would be claiming ignorance rather than being fair to any other they may infringe against and ignore.

When hailed for clearance or called for recall from early start no response would not be a defence against protest if the skipper chose to ignore the calls by "not hearing them". How also would the skipper hear the start signal and any other calls as sound signals are used?

E1.2 Race Signals
The section Race Signals is deleted. All signals shall be made orally
or by other sounds described in this appendix or the sailing instructions.

Chris
NZL1 Longtack
NZL110 Swept Away NZL128 Ketch me if U Can

Wondering if anybody out there in EC12 land is hard of hearing or even deaf? Seems to be a fair rule but may exclude those who cannot hear from participating.

Just my 2 cents as I have a very good friend who is partially deaf.

There are some who are hard of hearing and some that have selective hearing.

For those we know with genuine hering issues compensation and allowances are made - again thats the sportmanship part of the equation.

Those that choose to be ignorant are just that - ignorant.

Chris
NZL1 Longtack
NZL110 Swept Away NZL128 Ketch me if U Can

Our club in Jacksonville, Florida has a deaf sailor. His name is Baron Bremer and he just finished 2nd overall in our championship series. He is very good and knows the rules well and he will most always do his turns when he makes a foul with out having to tell him. But if he does not realize he committed a foul, you just have to tap him or wave at him and give him a hand signal to do a turn.

For the starts, he uses a stop watch that he velcros to his TX. We let him push the start tape and he puts his hand on the speaker to feel the sound and synchronizes his stop watch to the tape. He is very rarely OCS.

It has taken some folks time to get used to him, but most of us know him well and if you are not near him when you need to get his attention, we just yell down the line until someone is close enough to him to give him a tap or a nudge.

Dick Reinke is also hard of hearing and has started using a stop watch as well.

So long as everyone is aware of the guys that can't hear you, it works out fine.

As for guys using iPods while sailing, I have not experienced any problems with it. Most of the guys I know who do it, don't turn them up so loud that they can't hear what is going on. They just like a little mood music to help relax them or help them shut out the chatter so they can focus on their boat. I find they sometimes are more focused on their boat and what is going on on the water than some who are chatting a little too much instead of watching their boats.

I guess until I get holed by a guy using an iPod, I am not going to worry about it so much.

Now if you want to talk about people on their cell phone while driving...[:(!]

Joe Walter #24

We also use the X-ray flag at the starts to indicate OCS as well as call out sail numbers. If Baron sees the flag, he know to look at the line judge to see if it was him.

Joe Walter #24

Well, I am one who likes to have some low background music to drown out the other background static that inevitably starts running though my head during a race. That said I set it at the lowest level where I can still hear everything and everyone around, which seems just fine to me. If you are racing against someone that is not hearing impaired in any way but is calming they didn’t hear you over the music or is “zoning outâ€

This is NOT a problem.The guy I sail against most often listening to an Ipod is so far ahead of most of us it isn't an issue.He knows the rules cold,does his turns without you asking if he did miss that 1/4 inch crossing, and is and all-round Gentleman, so it is not a problem for me.I race often with both the previously mentioned hearing impaired sailors and do not find it an issue.

R.C.Greer