OK, I promised you two more reasons why I thought the TC 2007 was important. Here we go: 

#3: Racing Rules. MarkTwain White deserves another shout-out here for his emphasis on Racing Rules in TC 2007.

The goal of SL Racing, I guess, is to develop an online experience that closely matches a real-life sailboat race. With that understanding, I think the excitement and intensity of SL sail competition is largely grounded in the racing Rules.

The IASF Rules are an integral part of RL sailboat racing. The basic rules aren’t complicated, and are really part of safe boating. Applying those rules in Second Life goes along way toward validating SL Sailing as something more than just a ‘game.’ I guess what I am saying is that no matter how pretty your SL Windlight graphics are, and no matter how much fun you have in the back of your Tako, you can’t have a sailboat race without Rules. The SL Racing Rules are what make the difference between playing pinball and participating in a real Sailboat Racing emulation.

The SL Racing Rules for TC 2007 meant that RL sailors could demonstrate their knowledge and experience, and dedicated online sailors could test their skill and understanding of real sailing principles. Winning a race in TC 2007 was a real accomplishment.

If you agree with me that Rules are important, you probably already know the difficulty: It’s not easy to set up a coherent list of rules for SL Racing. Although the basic IASF Rules fit well in SL, the devil is in the details. Rules are a hot topic with sailors, however, and the Forum is full of thoughtful posts about how/ why/ when/ and where to apply the Rules. Well-deserved Mega-Kudos go to M1sha Dallin for taking charge of this online discussion and providing patient, detailed Rules explanations over the past several months. The result is an evolving set of SL Racing Rules that are pretty easy to understand, take the strengths and limitations of SL into consideration, and represent the broad consensus of SL sailors. Like everything in SL, the development of rules also comes with considerable humor. I hope it will always be up to the individual race directors to determine which of the rules to use in any particular race… if any! 

For TC 2007, MarkTwain White put together a highly organized system for judging. The judging process is pretty thankless job because most of it appropriately occurs behind the scenes, and it only becomes an issue if the judges make a mistake or the racers refuse to accept the decision. However, Soro Dagostino took on the task and did a wonderful job overseeing the judging process. He also served as the primary judge for the Finals competition. Svar Beckersted and I assisted him, in addition to MarkTwain White, Nber Medici, and Aislin Keynes.

If you watch the Sail On televised broadcast of the race on SLCN.TV, you’ll see that several protests were called by the skippers during the Final match races, and a few long delays took place while the judges made a decision. Usually when there’s a long delay like that in any sport, I assume the judges are disagreeing among themselves on interpretation or application of a particular rule. Well, that didn’t happen in TC 2007.

The judging delays in the Finals competition resulted from Soro’s attention to the process, making sure that the judges had all the information necessary for an appropriate ruling. As I said, Soro really did a great job.

Armchair Binder and Hans Zinnemann have fifty years’ combined RL sailing experience. They know the Racing Rules inside and out. They rarely make mistakes on the water, and you can be certain that any protest they raise in competition will be serious and strongly founded. This was particularly true for the TC 2007 Finals, where the protest hearings determined the winner for at least two of the races.

So what was remarkable about the Finals judging?  Well… I thought it was the consensus. I was pretty amazed there was no significant disagreement among the judges on any protest in the Final series, despite the multiple issues, the high emotional intensity, and the need for split-second decisions. For each protest, the race judges came to independent conclusions that were, pretty remarkably, in agreement with each other. Soro slowed the deliberations down a bit in the Finals to absolutely ensure a fair and complete review of each item. He deserves a standing ovation for keeping a cool head and ensuring an absolutely fair process. This process resulted in decisions that were solidly based on SL Racing Rules that had been repeatedly discussed, promoted, and debated in SL and on the Forum. I can’t recall a single judging decision that was either arbitrary or subjective, and I’m not aware of any complaint that the judging was in any sense incorrect or unfair. 

As I watched TC 2007 progress, I was struck by the realization that SL racing is maturing very rapidly. I think that MarkTwain White’s steady insistence on the importance of Racing Rules in TC 2007 was a significant step in that process. TC 2007 emphasized that the Rules are an  important part of the overlap between RL Sailing and SL Sailing, and showed that our attention to the Rules enhances the meaning and the excitement for all sailors.

#4: Community. So far I’ve commented on a few things that I thought were important and lasting about TC 2007. The first item I mentioned was a technical advance, the second emphasized strategy and technical skill, and the third discussed the importance of racing rules. In the final analysis, however, these are all secondary issues. The single most important issue in SL racing will always be the online sailing community.

Over the past many months the sailing community has steadily grown in SL. Intelligent, funny, creative people get together on the second life waterways every day to chat, to race, or to just enjoy each other’s company.  The diversity in our community is pretty amazing.  On nearly any start line you can find a gaggle of skippers from a wide diversity of countries, cultures, and social settings.  SL Sailing is the common thread, the substrate, that brings them together.

As I looked down on the races from the observation deck, I was repeatedly struck by the fact I was surrounded by a crowd of onlookers who had converged there from all points of the globe. They came together to share the excitement of the event and to share their love of sailing   with each other.  In my view, that was perhaps the best thing, and the ultimate goal, of TC 2007. It was a celebration - and affirmation - of our wonderful SL Sailing community. I can’t wait to see what TC 2008 will bring!