gouvernail
Super Opinionated and Always Correct
When an on the water postponement is in effect, the rules are clear. The committee can drop the red and white flag at any time and six minutes later a race can start.
If the wind is blowing and the reason for the postponement was a need to simply "press the reset button" the six minute total time to the next start is about right. The fleet reorganizes, the gun sounds, the red and white drops and a minute later another start sequence begins.
But that is not the problem.
The problem is the light air day when the entire game holds it breath while we all wait for some wind to start. Eventually, the committee makes some movements, fires a horn, and six minutes later we actually try to start.
But...
How often is that the entire fleet is struggling just to get to anyplace at all on the line. There is no time for most of the fleet to get line sights, check for a favored end, plan an approach and jockey with the rest of the players for a position on the line.
The fact is, six minutes in no where near enough time to plan and execute a start.
The worst case is where many of the sailors find themselves too far from the line to make the start at all. Their race ( and the race of those who enjoy playing with them) is ruined.
I think race committees want to have great races and time for playing the entire game before the start is absolutely part of the racing they want to manage.
So...How do we cause, "Will everybody have enough time to actually play the game?" consideration to be part of what race committees ALWAYS consider when coming out of postponement??
I believe world wide consistency in race management must be available and extra time before a start when the committee comes out of postponement should be internationally considered.
So how??
If the wind is blowing and the reason for the postponement was a need to simply "press the reset button" the six minute total time to the next start is about right. The fleet reorganizes, the gun sounds, the red and white drops and a minute later another start sequence begins.
But that is not the problem.
The problem is the light air day when the entire game holds it breath while we all wait for some wind to start. Eventually, the committee makes some movements, fires a horn, and six minutes later we actually try to start.
But...
How often is that the entire fleet is struggling just to get to anyplace at all on the line. There is no time for most of the fleet to get line sights, check for a favored end, plan an approach and jockey with the rest of the players for a position on the line.
The fact is, six minutes in no where near enough time to plan and execute a start.
The worst case is where many of the sailors find themselves too far from the line to make the start at all. Their race ( and the race of those who enjoy playing with them) is ruined.
I think race committees want to have great races and time for playing the entire game before the start is absolutely part of the racing they want to manage.
So...How do we cause, "Will everybody have enough time to actually play the game?" consideration to be part of what race committees ALWAYS consider when coming out of postponement??
I believe world wide consistency in race management must be available and extra time before a start when the committee comes out of postponement should be internationally considered.
So how??