This has been a really good thread, highlighting the risks of casual racing. There are some good lessons and solid reminders of the situation we're in when we do these casual races.
I started racing again last year after many years away from it. That made me an experienced but rusty racer, and what's worse, racing amongst folks with a wide variation in experience and acumen. For example on one race I starboarded two boats just after the start, completely in the right, but now realizing in hindsight completely ignorant of the abilities of those skippers and whether they would respond. Although there was no problem at the time, I won't do that again. Years ago we raced against the same competitors week after week and everyone knew everyone else. The crews were generally the same from week to week, even from year to year. It produced very close and well run races. I now realize I cannot expect this beer can stuff to be the same. I have to say a couple things about the video. It does not appear the leeward boat called out in any way. Should they have called "hardening up" to the windward boat? They did not give any warning of their movements. It didn't look to me like Blue was barging, they were on a close reach. Blues crew were indeed clueless, as was the helmsperson, but the tactician also made mistakes. He appeared to see the other boat but did not do or say enough until it was too late. I think he acknowledged this in his post. No question about windward leeward rule though, Blue was in the wrong but also agree leeward boat seemed to do nothing to avoid the collision. Cheers, Steve Hood S/V Diamond Girl C&C 34 Lions Head ON ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:26:59 +0100 From: Wally Bryant <w...@wbryant.com> To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List Race video Message-ID: <516819b3.8020...@wbryant.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Yup, it's a bummer about Mike (tactician.) He owns the sail loft in La Cruz and does the morning weather on the local radio net, and is a great guy. Banderas Bay is a major winter cruiser hangout, and the crews on these races are almost always pickup crews that don't know the boat and have never sailed together. Probably not a good time to get aggressive at the start. Wal Chuck S wrote: > <snip> The whole crew looked rather distracted and inexperienced. No > one is looking for traffic. That's everyone's job. <snip> ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
