protecting your hole...

Sail4SC

Member
I'm very curious.. Many a laser sailors have strongly cautioned me about going into "THEIR hole" on the starting line. My question is.. how big of a hole are they allowed to defend? If I use "their" hole to start in.. and we never touch.. have I fouled them? If their hole is big enough for them to both of us.. is it ok to co-habitat together till the gun goes off? I’ve always thought that if I could fit into that spot to leeward of a boat on the starting line without causing the windward boat to alter course in anyway.. that was ok and perfectly legal. But now I’m confused.. Kids just yell at me not to go in there.. should I announce that it is now “my hole”. What’s the deal?
 
They're blowing smoke up your butt - they want that hole to put their nose down at the start and get up to speed fast. Your objective if you're late and haven't picked out a spot is to hit that hole as hard as as fast as you can... Then taunt them my asking who's hole is it b___ch!! :)
 
Its intimidation to give them the best possible start off the line. Ideally you want space below you at the start so you can bear off slightly to accelerate off the line. The last thing they want is someone (you in this case) sailing into this gap at the last minute. They won't be happy about it but there is nothing stopping you going in there if the gap is big enough.
 
Not only are you entitled to sail into 'their hole' - before the start signal, once you have established an overlap to leeward you are entitled to luff up to head to wind to push them to windward and 'takeover' their 'hole'. The only limitation is that you must give them time and opportunity to keep clear - having said that, once you start luffing, they must respond immediately including sheeting in if required. If these actions push them over early, well thats racing!

In addition if you feel that somone is defending 'their hole' by either rude or agressive language you should inform them very politely that you are considering a Rule 2 protest:-
"2 FAIR SAILING​
A boat and her owner shall compete in compliance with recognized
principles of sportsmanship and fair play. A boat may be penalized
under this rule only if it is clearly established that these principles
have been violated. A disqualification under this rule shall not be​
excluded from the boat’s series score."

To mix metaphors - It's just not cricket!
 
One thing to watch is if they are so aware of your position and intentions that they will warn you off, they will surely block the hole before you get there. This will deny them the space they wanted to keep but it is still better for them to block you out.
You have every right to try for it but late barging is dangerous if the hole is small.
Having said that I have found the people doing all the shouting are usually the late bargers or the overly enthusiastic luffers.
 
I suspect those above have it right, but a couple of caveats

Is the person hailing windward or leeward of the position they're defending?

If they're positioned windward of it, they do have little to say because, as noted above as soon as you occupy the spot you've taken the right-of-way position and they must keep clear of you. The caveat is that rules 15 and 16 govern this. If you sail into a spot without enough room you go from burdened (clear astern) to right-of-way (leeward) quite quickly, and they are NOT required to anticipate this movement, but only to begin keeping clear of you once the overlap is established. If you run out of room before that and collide with them before they were able to keep clear, then it is you who has violated a rule.

Now, if the boat hailing is to leeward of the spot, you need to be more cautious, as you're sailing into a spot where you are the burdened boat. If there isn't enough physical space in there (especially between the hailing boat and the committee boat) and you strike that boat or force them to change course to avoid, then you've fouled the boat to leeward of you.
 

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