Impact!

so the black boat appeared to throw a fake tack and caught the yellow boat off-guard, drawing the penalty?

this drone footage is pretty neat. Check this start out. Aggressive.

Sorry Jake I can't appreciate and respect the skills of the skippers and crews and the clear talent on both teams because they chose to sail small slow monohulls.

Match racing in Mono's will never catch on.

I'll give it a go.

Both boats appear to begin tacking at same time (not sure about whether Starboard boat attempts

fake tack

).

Yellow Port sees Starboard tacking and maintains port tack.

Starboard dismisses tacking and sails back onto starboard tack AND below proper course.

Yellow surprised by this move tries to sail astern of Starboard.

Collision occurs.

Me think Starboard violated

Rule 13 (while tacking as she went head to wind--sails luffing at 0:12 -- and therefore must stay clear of other boats)

Rule 16.1 (When a right-of-way boat changes course she shall give the other room to keep clear

Rule 16.2 (...port-tack boat is keeping clear by sailing to pass astern of starboard-tack boat, the starboard-tack boat shall not change course if as a result the port-tack boat would immediately need to change course to continue keeping clear).

Bear in mind that these are match racing videos, not fleet racing. Therefore, the rules and their application are a bit different.

In the first video, I think the outcome is going to hinge on whether or not the umpires felt that Yellow did all she reasonably could have to avoid contact (she pauses momentarily before turning down). If not, then Yellow breaks rule 10. If so, then Blue (with the black sail) breaks rule 16. I see that Yellow is already carrying a penalty, so that's either going to be cancelled or compounded.

I saw two protests in the second video. The first was green-flagged (no penalty) by the umpires. The second was a penalty for Blue. Throughout the entire pre-start, though, Yellow (with the red sail) totally controlled the other boat.

Just my observations,
Eric

In my opinion this is a clear case where a team is using the rules as sword and deliberately set up yellow to draw a foul.

Yellow was reaching down to pass astern and when black did the fake tack yellow went back to close hauled (not tacking) to get on the hip of black after black completed their tack. When black went back to starboard close hauled (fake tack) yellow was still a half boat length away. In my opinion yellow still had time to crash tack but was surprised by the black move and tried to duck instead plus they clearly wanted the right and didn't want be controlled by black if they tacked to starboard. I'd really like to know if black was successful drawing the foul or not.

Black (Gilmour) was penalized in that altercation and lost to yellow (Steel).

Man, that red boat worked them like a prom date. How many fouls do you count on that?

Penalising black is what you would expect from dinghy racing, if Black made no attempt to give yellow room and sailed their course black would have won the protest.
Looks like black went up and gave yellow plenty of room to stop or go below, yellow sailing up but not tacking and then proceding forward meant they were forcing black to tack or collide both penalties to yellow.

That move may have worked in light air, but with the speeds of the boats, it's hard to fault yellow, although I didn't see much of an attempt to change course. Hindsight being 20/50 and all...

Mike

Match racing monslugs is all about drawing a foul to win. Match racing cats(AC boats) was more about boat speed and tactics, not that BS rule play crap seen here.

I agree. Not that I race cats much, but I have no interest in this kind of racing. It seems too much like driving in Atlanta!

I guess that's why

they

say you can't match race multihulls (as Gary Jobson reminded us every time his mike was on during the ACWS, and then again at the AC events in San Fran). True match race aficionados love the tight, knife-fight style of racing to draw a foul. It's definitely not for everyone.

Mike

No Dave that is not what monohull racing is all about and I'm sure you know that. Match racing with mulithulls is in its infancy and if multihull match racing continues to mature you can bet your bottom dollar that using the rules as weapon can and will be used as a tactic to win, they will figure out a way it's what they are paid to do. There is simply too much $$ at stake to leave any weapon on the table.

It's interesting that mulithhull sailors... Hobie 16s up to Nacra 17s (top of the sport) have never gotten into match racing. C class is as much about design as it is about racing.

I wonder why?

now the America's Cup is as much about a space race mentality in design as to the style of sailboat racing.

maybe tactics of match racing are slow, and multis are fast?

Why do NASCARs rub each other like horny teenagers, and F1 cars touch like old married couples (only in emergencies)?

I'd guess a larger percentage of current (and past) racing multihull guys get their start from the rec side of the sport rather than the more formal/traditional paths.

I'm one of them. W/Ls are fine, but match racing would be a real challenge.

probably right and that is sad to me. i do know that monohull racing is more than trying to pick up a foul, I have been racing a Viper 640 and now a VX one for a few years and it is certainly a very competitve class, and not one where fouling is the objective for a win.
they have assymetricals, so its more like cats but a helleuva lot wetter and bumpier, not faster, just wetter.

I would rather have fun while racing, then meet you at the keg post race and talk about the race, not argue in the jury room.
Jury room time = less time at the keg, just sayin

Not moving while cursing your air conditioning for not being able to keep up at idle?

Fleet racing in any boat is about going fast. Knowledge of the rules can help you to place yourself in the best position in a crowd, but generally speaking your odds of winning are better if you focus on getting out front and avoiding other boats like the plague (or an old wife, to borrow a phrase above).

Match racing and team racing put the emphasis on using your boat handling and rules knowledge to the forefront to control the competition. This concept works best with boats that are equal in speed, and that do not have dramatic acceleration capabilities, as it keeps the competition from being a runaway.

Statistically, it's probably like a 1 percenter game within our 1 percenter sport...

Mike

I wonder how that ruling helps to stop future collisions, the judges must have said oh black tricked yellow by giving some room therefore it was okay for yellow to continue on port, even though if yellow had tacked early enough black would have held it's line on starboard and no collision.

or having your daytime running lights kill the battery while at idle... in summer...?

No rule requires one boat to anticipate what the other boat might do. This boils down to

did yellow react fast enough

to how black physically presented his boat to him. I think yellow eased their main and started to bear away pretty fast once it became clear that black wasn't actually tacking. You could argue that yellow should have tacked but I would counter with the fact that it's a crewed boat and it takes coordination to tack a boat without throwing people in the water. I think the attempted duck was a reasonable action...he just wasn't allowed enough time or opportunity to do so.

Hadn't thought of that, I bet daytime running lamps are hard on an alternator if you spend a lot of time in traffic. Especially if it's hot out.

I watched a Worlds Opti team race video on Youtube the other day and it is was all about positioning the team to foul, or block the other team. While good for kids(to learn the rules) it was very over the top and excessive use of the rules to win, which IMHO is not racing.
Just my opinion though

could it be agreed upon, then, that Match, Team, Fleet, and Cruising are all separate disciplines within sailing that require different techniques, rules, and application?

So that rules and conduct acceptable in, say, match racing would NOT universally apply to other disciplines?

Does that make any particular discipline more or less relevant?

To my feeble mind, match racing looks more like MMA fighting while fleet racing is more like a footrace. Team racing may be more like cycling (with the teamwork)?

Does match racing skill translate into good fleet racing results?

Actually, match races are umpired. Penalties are levied on the water. Protests that require a hearing are unusual, and much less common than in fleet racing.

When a right-of-way boat changes course, she must give the other boat room to keep clear. See RRS 16.1.

If Yellow wanted to go to the left side of the course, then she could have tacked when Blue (with the black sail) luffed up. Since she didn't, I presume Yellow wanted to go right. When Blue turned head-to-wind, Yellow was free to continue on her course (and she did). When Blue turned back down, she was bound by RRS 16.1 to give Yellow

room to keep clear

(which in match-racing interpretation means Yellow must do everything reasonably possible to avoid Blue). At that point, it's a judgement call by the umpire(s). If Yellow does everything she can to avoid Blue but still makes contact, then Blue breaks rule 16.1. I presume that's what the umpire(s) determined.

If Blue wanted to go right, then she could have held her course (or altered course/speed only enough) to force Yellow to tack. Then Blue could tack and go right. If Blue wanted to go left, then she could have either pinched up to cross Yellow with speed, or altered course/speed to force Yellow to take a bigger duck (and then accelerated to the left).

Instead, Blue luffed up early, freeing Yellow of the need to tack (or duck) to keep clear. When Blue turned back down, she did not give Yellow the opportunity to keep clear. Had Blue luffed up later, or turned down earlier (thereby giving Yellow room) then the encounter might have gone the other way.

I'd argue that some of the rules do require a boat to anticipate what another boat may do, but those rules do not apply here. In this case, I believe you are correct.

I hope that helps,
Eric