Beyond the Rules: Is is Safe? Is it Right?
Note: This essay may seem a bit strict or preachy, but sometimes that’s the way these things may have to come off in order to emphasize that safety-related racing and navigation rules are vital to keeping lives and limbs whole, not to mention keeping us out of expensive trouble.
The Rules, Ethics, Safety, and the Law – Part 1
Most of us, even racers, sail for enjoyment, relaxation, and fun. Some of us have invested a great deal of effort and expense in our boats and in becoming better sailors, and almost all of us enjoy socializing, cruising, or competing with our fellow sailors.
The pace of socializing and cruising is usually pretty mellow, and these activities often don’t have a whole lot of structure; sailors can come and go as they please to parties, raft-ups, and similar events.
But with racing, the pace can be rapid, with boats and crews jockeying in close quarters. Racers especially must obey the rules and meet their other obligations out of consideration for the safety, property, and well-being of themselves and others. Each skipper and crew member has obligations under federal, state, and local laws, including legal responsibility to operate a boat in a safe and controlled manner, respect the environment, respect the property of others, allow other boaters to enjoy their rightful activities safety, not endanger other boaters, and not infringe upon the safe navigation of other boats.
Racing skippers should also think about the reasons why they and other people participate in sailboat racing, and follow the written and unwritten rules of good sportsmanship and courtesy.
Irresponsible behavior can hurt the offending skipper as well as his or her victims and even result in bad consequences for the sailing club and sailors as a group.
In New Mexico, most sailing waters are under the jurisdiction of the New Mexico State Parks.
• State police officers, county sheriff’s deputies, and state parks marine enforcement officers can write citations against boaters who violate laws, and they can arrest a lawbreaker.
• They can terminate a voyage and order a crew ashore, or haul a crew off a boat and tow it ashore. They can close the lake to boating when conditions are unsafe.
• The state parks also decide whether to issue permits to allow the sailing club to hold regattas. Further, the sailing club is a state parks concessionaire and has associated obligations to the state.
For these reasons, it’s an absolutely must that all of us obey the laws and sail safely and courteously.
Beyond the Rules: Is it Safe? Is it Right? (cont.)
The Rules, Ethics, Safety, and the Law – Part 2
Skippers in a tight race situation need to think beyond the immediate concerns of a maneuver. An aggressive racing move might be perfectly appropriate in a national one-design championship where all the skippers are highly skilled and have boats with identical maneuverability. But is this okay in a local, small club regatta such as those hosted by the RGSC?
Here, race boats are different in size, speed, and maneuverability; safety facilities are limited (such as no safety or chase boats); water temperatures can be frigid; and crew and skipper experience levels vary hugely. Thus, wanton rules violations, reckless sailing, or indiscriminate use of aggressive tactics could be a recipe for mayhem and disaster and could cause grave harm to the club and to its racing program.
Consider some possible actions and resulting consequences:
• Approaching the starting line on a fast broad reach, an experienced skipper points a boat straight at the beam of a leeward boat. Both boats are on starboard tack, with the leeward boat close hauled and the windward boat looking for a hole in the line.
Not knowing whether the windward boat has seen her and fearing a collision that could sink her boat, the less experienced skipper falls off sharply to avoid disaster, hits the pin, does a penalty turn, and starts the race more than a minute behind the boat that caused the incident. The victims were too busy avoiding collision to yell protest before the other boat was well up the course. The give-way (burdened, no-rights) boat gains a significant advantage by her wrongdoing, and finishes ahead of the victim on corrected time. The give-way boat neither takes penalty turns, nor disqualifies herself from the race.
• Two boats are approaching the starting line near the committee boat on starboard tack when a port tacker passes close in front of the leeward boat, forcing her to quit heading up, and to sheet out to avoid collision. Then the port tacker tacks to starboard very close to the windward boat, forcing her to luff to head to wind to avoid collision, and then to give up her start to avoid collision with the committee boat. The port tacker is on her way upwind before one of the startled victims thinks to protest.
The Rules, Ethics, Safety, and the Law – Part 2 (cont.)
• A windward boat bears down upon a leeward boat. Instead of apologizing or taking a penalty turn, the skipper of the windward boat wrongfully calls a protest on the right-of-way boat and the confused, less experienced crew on the right-of-way boat actually takes an undeserved penalty turn.
• A group of boats is approaching what was originally the windward mark, but due to a huge wind shift the boats are on a downwind course in very light conditions. The inside boat doesn’t immediately turn around the mark, but continues on for another 10 boat lengths, carrying the outside boats with her and in close proximity to some sharp rocks and shallows. The skipper of the inside boat then turns, and the other boats have to take avoiding action to avoid the hazard, placing them further behind.
• A port-tacker approaches a wall of starboard tackers and fails to take avoiding action, fouling some boats and causing others to get tangled up and start poorly. In the confusion, no protest is called.
• An experienced racer modifies his boat to carry sails larger than those allowed by the boat’s class, and does not declare the changes to the race committee.
• A racer, while breaking one of the racing rules, collides with and damages a smaller boat. The racer doesn’t pay for the damage and the owners of the smaller boat quit the club and sell the boat.
• An experienced racer, on port tack, approaches an inexperienced racer, who is on starboard. The port-tacker loudly yells “Port!” to bully and confuse the beginner into giving up his rights. This is an obvious violation of rule 2, Fair Sailing.
• A club member/racer “borrows” a slip from a marina during a busy weekend without paying for it.
• During a windy regatta, the race committee hoists the “flotation required” code flag Y before the preparatory signal for a race. However, some crews don’t bother to observe the requirement, or bother to obey the state law requiring life jackets for racing. A state parks patrol officer notices that the racers are disobeying the law and questions whether the club is able to safely host a regatta in accordance with the state parks permit.
The Rules, Ethics, Safety, and the Law – Part 2 (cont.)
Now, for the previous scenarios, think about the following:
Which of the actions were allowed under the racing rules?
Were they legal?
What should the parties have done?
What should the race committee have done?
What was the right thing to do?
What would you have done?
What should be told to the skipper and crew of the no-rights / burdened / give way boats or the skippers who caused an incident?
Who should have done what to prevent a dangerous situation?
What were the possible consequences or liability for the club?
Other thoughts …
Contact resulting from a luffing match between a couple of like-sized boats creeping along at one or two knots isn’t likely to cause any appreciable damage and isn’t a very big deal.
But, “bumper boats” behavior is strongly discouraged by the rules and is a bad habit that could lead to disaster. An accident in strong winds could result in costly damage, personal injury, and serious legal consequences. A port-starboard collision at only 5 to 10 knots could lead to a boat being holed or sunk, rig failure, crew injuries, and crew being dumped into frigid water and endangered by cold shock response or hypothermia.
The rules are written to prevent the skipper of one boat from “trapping” another boat into a dangerous situation from which the victim boat can’t escape and is put in danger of collision or grounding. Such behavior not only breaks rules, but also is unethical and contrary to the ideals of Corinthian sailing. Any skipper who thinks it’s fun to “trap” novices or “teach ‘em a lesson on how it’s done” without regard to safety is not only a boorish bully but also a menace. And, since other skippers are likely to see the bullying, what goes around just might come right back around… and around again.
Waves
by E. William Guenther
Both air and water are “sticky”. That is. they tend to stick or adhere to whatever surface they contact. Water, being the denser fluid, is more sticky than air. Without this stickiness there would be no wind waves. Earthquakes, boats, a pebble dropped in the water, etc., cause waves but their number is minuscule compared to the vast amount of waves caused by the wind.
In a calm, the water is like glass. With a slight breeze, a delicate intercourse begins between these two fluids. The air drags the surface of the water. Up is the path of least resistance for the water, so ripples form. As the breeze builds, the air more and more deforms the water surface. This now perturbed surface gives the wind more to grab on to. Next we have a little wavelet whose leeward side has a low pressure area and whose windward face has a positive pressure. This further helps the wave to climb, again, its path of least resistance. This is Bernoulli’s Principle (in fluids, increased velocity results in decreased pressure) in action. I know it works because it never failed to support my 500,000 pound airplane.
The stronger the wind, the higher the waves. As the wind subsides, gravity returns the water to to its original state; waves, wavelets, ripples and then back to the glassy surface.
However, waves can last a long time, especially on an open sea. A group of large waves combine to form an ocean swell. These swells can last many days, long after the storm that caused them has subsided or moved away. Thus, on a sunny, windless day one can be riding huge swells, the remnants of a storm now far away.
A wave “breaks” when its crest splashes over into the concave leeward side, making whitecaps and giving off spray and foam. Imagine a person walking along and tripping on something. The momentum of his upper body causes him to stumble or possibly fall. A breaking wave also “stumbles”. On the open water the strength of the wind forces the water at the crest to move faster than the lower portion, so the crest falls forward and breaks.
The waves breaking in the surf also stumble, but for a different reason. In this situation, as the wave (which may not be visible as a wave) approaches the shore, the water becomes more shallow. The sea bottom impedes the motion of the wave’s lower portion while the crest continues shoreward at a faster rate and thus breaks. Again, it stumbles. Thus the surf breaks, even in no wind.
The water in a wave moves very little laterally; most of the water movement is up and down.
The forces of nature are fascinating. They occur on land in relative slow motion, but at sea they are at their most dynamic, sometimes to the point of being terrifyingly dangerous.
But not always. I write this sitting in my boat in Friday Harbor (in the San Juan Islands) having just returned from up north in British Columbia. It’s the 4 th of July and I sit here whiling away the time and writing things like this because there are no waves; because there is no wind.
A Visit to Carter Lake
Pat Byrnes
Following up on the US Sailing Advanced Race Management class that Carol Anne and I completed at the Houston Yacht Club last February, I accepted the Carter Lake Sailing Club’s (CLSC) kind invitation to help out at their big annual race, the Carter Lake Open. My idea was to gain more experience with how different groups organize and run their regattas, which will also help me in eventually becoming certified as a regional-level principal race officer (PRO).
Carter Lake is in a park operated by Larimer County and is about an hour northwest of Denver, not far from Rocky Mountain National Park, and perhaps a half-hour drive from Boulder. The lake is perhaps ¾ mile wide by 2-1/2 miles long and has two marinas; one commercial and one operated by the CLSC. Each marina has its own boat ramp, and the CLSC marina has a mast-raising pole. A short walk uphill from the marina and mast-raising pole is a simple, rustic, but comfortable clubhouse with a large covered deck, which is the Carter Lake Sailing Club’s home.
During the regatta, I assisted the PRO, Tom Ruwitch, on the race committee signal boat. The CLSC owns its own small flotilla of motorboats. Tom, Doug and Dana, and I ran the starts from a good-sized Bayliner cabin cruiser, while another team took finishes downwind while aboard another cabin cruiser, and yet more r.c. team members operated a Boston Whaler as a mark boat, and a jet-powered rigid inflatable boat (r.i.b.) that was our chase boat and general utility boat.
More from Carter Lake
Light, variable, switchy air is the bane of lake sailors, and especially of race committee members who hope to get off a regatta that will be a fair test of sailing skills – and won’t leave the competitors stranded in the middle of an airless lake and force abandonment of a race. In spite of sometimes uncooperative weather, we got all the boats to complete three races, with a fourth race for the Star Class.
We used a variation of a rolling start for the three classes in the regatta – Stars, Ultimate 20s, and a PHRF (Pacific Handicap Rating Formula) mixed fleet containing three Catalina Capri 22s and various other boats. The last few seconds of each start countdown was broadcast on VHF radio.
At the beginning of each day’s racing, once we were satisfied that a fair start could be achieved and that we had the likelihood of completing a race, we would lower the AP (postponement) pennant. Precisely a minute later, we would raise a colored flag for the first class to start, marking the beginning of its five-minute sequence. Exactly a minute after the start for the first class, we would raise the flag for the second class to start and begin their five-minute sequence, and then similarly for the third class to start.
Later in each day, the starts would be more spread out, with typically each class starting separately and apart, as the effect of different boat speeds and lake weather had its effects. And, with light air on each day, there was always a certain amount of waiting around as Tom and the rest of us tried to outguess the whacky and sometimes frustrating mountain lake weather. This was also a good opportunity to learn some of the idiosyncrasies of weather on Colorado’s Front Range lakes.
Despite light winds, I enjoyed the trip and the warm hospitality. The organizers did a great job of hosting, and produced a lot of great prizes for the racers and for a fund-raising raffle. We were treated to a fine and generous barbecue dinner by a professional caterer who urged us to eat heartily.
RGSC Chandlery
Ericson 25+, $12,000 or best reasonable offer.
LOA 25’5”, 9’3” beam, 3’11” draft, Volvo inboard diesel w/saildrive, folding prop, trailer, roller furler, 3 jibs, asym spinnaker, head, instrumentation, galley, with lots of extras & spares. 505 291 8181. Chuck & Michelle Lewis.
For sale: Laser sailboat $950. Refurbished trailer (new tires & wiring, re-packed bearings). NM 7076 AX, hull # PSL 883310580, age is approx. 27, good condition. Full rig. Boat is stored in Sandia Park, NM. 521-0200, cell 505-644-5729, Carol Babington, Las Cruces, carol@moving-to-new-mexico.com
For Sale: 1980 Ericson 25+ Sloop, $15,000 OBO. Tandem axle trailer w elec winch, 19hp o/b w r/c, main w 3-pt jiffy reef, 160 roller genoa, 8’ f/g dinghy, 6’+ headroom in cabin; cushions & full canvas, Bill Ross, 505 293-2139.
For Sale: 1979 Bluewater Boats BlackWatch 18’, 5 hp o/b, asking $7,500. Philip Thullen, 505 699-9001, mpthullen@earthlink.net For Sale: 1980 Catalina 25 Swing keel, $7,700. Tandem axle trailer, 10 hp Honda o/b, marine head, electronics; and
1984 Cape Dory 27, $23,000. 5-yr.-old trailer, inboard motor, new sails, roller furling. Pete Barlow, 505 751-9786, taosdoor@taosnet.com For Sale: Avon Redcrest inflatable dinghy, 9’3”, rounded stern, very good conditions, $400 and J-24 PVC toe rail kit for replacement of original teak-type rails, new $175 (50% off), Vicki, 505 228-6901. Will consider offers: Catalina 27. Trailer, 9.9hp motor, r/c in cockpit, lines led aft to cockpit, double reefing, new bottom paint; Jim Maxwell, c21andrus@aol.com. Wanted: Laser/Laser 2. Adrianna, 505 610-1802, xsuperbikeracerx@yahoo.com Wanted: Used jib for our 22’ boat; thank you, Mark Chalom, 505 670-8853, mchalom2@comcast.com
Foghorn Ad Rates
$ 50.00 Full page 35.00 Half Page
20.00 Business Card Plus 10.00 Display classified
5.00 in-line classified (2 line ad) (Free to RGSC members)
