Hi! You don’t need to read this article!
Not that you ever thought you needed to read anything else I ever wrote, but the only thing I’m going to say today is something really silly. Nonetheless, I think this bears repeating: Big Boats need more room to turn than Little Boats.
Got that? Good!
Since I get paid by the inch here (joke), let me give you some details:
Do you remember last week? Neither do I. However, re-reading COM it looks like I wrote about a few races where ”turns at the marker buoys“ seemed to be important. No surprise, this week showed many other races where those marker turns proved critical for the winning skipper. I could tell you about those races, but I won’t… at least not today. Instead, I want to talk about the size of your error-genous zone.
I’m sure you have all seen it. Surrounding many of the race buoys in USS and the ACA sims you will find a faint, broken white circle. That’s the Two Boatlength Zone where its easy to make errors since special rules apply:
You need a Zone because things often get tense when more than one race skipper approachs a marker at the same time. Extra rules kick in, particularly Rule 18. Here’s part of IASF Rule 18 as it applies to Real-Life sailboat racing:
18 ROUNDING AND PASSING MARKS AND OBSTRUCTIONS
In rule 18, room is room for an inside boat to round or pass between an outside boat and a mark or obstruction, including room to tack or gybe when either is a normal part of the manoeuvre. …
18.2 Giving Room; Keeping Clear
(a) OVERLAPPED - BASIC RULE
When boats are overlapped the outside boat shall give the inside boat room to round or pass the mark or obstruction, and if the inside boat has right of way the outside boat shall also keep clear. Other parts of rule 18 contain exceptions to this rule.
(b) OVERLAPPED AT THE ZONE
If boats were overlapped before either of them reached the twolength zone and the overlap is broken after one of them has reached it, the boat that was on the outside shall continue to give the other boat room. If the outside boat becomes clear astern or overlapped inside the other boat, she is not entitled to room and shall keep clear.
(c) NOT OVERLAPPED AT THE ZONE
If a boat was clear ahead at the time she reached the two-length zone, the boat clear astern shall thereafter keep clear. If the boat
clear astern becomes overlapped outside the other boat, she shall also give the inside boat room. If the boat clear astern becomes
overlapped inside the other boat, she is not entitled to room. If the boat that was clear ahead passes head to wind, rule 18.2(c) no
longer applies and remains inapplicable.
Confused? Me too. It basically says that if two overlapped boats enter the zone, the inside boat has ROW. It’s a common problem, as demonstrated by the fourth race in this past Sunday’s Big-Boat series:
As you can see, Gemma Vuckovic and Vin Mariani are overlapped, and Gemma has the inside track within the “zone.” Vin was subsequently disqualified when he fouled Gemma’s boat taking the turn. This was a particularly interesting case, however, since Vin’s boat was technically outside the Zone for much, if not all, of the Marker turn.
Don’t worry. I’m not to go into a long, tedious discussion of the nuances of Sailing Rules here (cough, good grief). Let me just say I usually reduce SL Racing’s Rule 18 to two simple ideas:
#1: If you are heading for the mark and enter the Zone overlapped with another boat, the INSIDE boat has Right Of Way (ROW), and
#2: If you are heading for the mark and another, non-overlapped boat is trying to do the same thing, the boat on STARBOARD TACK has ROW.
I’m only bringing this whole business up to make one simple, new point: The Two Boatlength Circle we standardly use to decide this stuff is designed for Tako races; it does not apply for other boat classes. Take a look at the picture below:
A Tako is shorter than a Larinda (Mirabile dictu)! It prolly violates Newtonian physics to fit two or more Larindas within that two-boatlength circle we currently use. If you look at the image below, two Larinda boatlengths is pretty much the full distance from the Bismarck Sea red Race Buoy to the NYC Clubhouse!
I’d therefore like to argue for a small change that will hopefully prove easy to swallow. For future SL Sailboat races where Rule 18 is enforced, the white circles should only be used for Tako, Fizz and Beach Cat competitions. For Trudeau, ACA32, and ACC races, the ‘zone’ is much larger and should be left to the discretion of the Race Director.
I know that’s a tiny, obscure point… but it wasn’t so bad, was it?
13 responses so far ↓
1 Bea Woodget // Jan 15, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Clear, helpfull and instructive it was!
Thank you Jane
2 Hpathe Boucher // Jan 16, 2008 at 5:49 am
What can I say about another instructive article… PROTEST…!!!!!!!
3 Surfwidow Beaumont // Jan 16, 2008 at 11:23 am
HOW ABOUT SOME SKY DISKS like they used at the ACA sim
i cant think why this hasnt been adopted sailing sim wide
as you can see the marks a lot further off and away compared with bouys
4 Armchair // Jan 16, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Jane, how does this rule apply to the starting marks and the finish marks? (can of worms)
5 Armchair // Jan 16, 2008 at 2:22 pm
On my sailing tips notecard, found at various sailing hang-outs, there are 2 videos listed, that pertain to mark rounding rules.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcStTTlvAzY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OqJCn9Edzc&feature=related
6 jane fossett // Jan 16, 2008 at 3:47 pm
“HOW ABOUT SOME SKY DISKS like they used at the ACA sim”
Surf, I agree the sky disks at ACA were an interesting an innovative idea! It made it easy to identify the ACA race markers from a distance visually, and on the mini-map as well. Even at ACA, however, it was important to have water-level ‘zone markers’ for judging.
I don’t know if sky disks are a good solution for other race courses, however. In USS-SL, for example, the races courses include water that is privately owned by several truly wonderful people. They all love sailing, and all — incredibly — donate many prim and much water simspace for the enjoyment of all sailors. I worry we do not collectively acknowledge nor appreciate how much they contribute to the SL Sailing community.
I’m bringing it up here because I think the overhead sky disks, although a convenience to us sailors, could interfere with the ’scenic view’ of the sim owners. That may sould like a small thing to a committed sail racer, but I think you’d agree it should be a real priority for us all.
7 jane fossett // Jan 16, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Armchair said: “Jane, how does this rule apply to the starting marks and the finish marks? (can of worms)”
Smile. I know AC has been thinking about this for some time.
Arm? I have a whole article looking at this problem too, but I haven’t published it because it’s messy and it’s opinionated. It’s a real “Can of worms” as you say. Let’s mull it over some more.
8 jane fossett // Jan 16, 2008 at 5:28 pm
I need to add an addendum to my article; pardon me while I bang my head against the Sim EOW for a minute…
I just realized something!
The ACA Sim “two boatlength circle” is actually much larger than the USS “two boatlength circle.” Why? I assume it’s because the ACA is set up for the larger ACA32 boat.
This proves my underlying point, that different boats require different “warning circles” under Rule 18.
9 Surfwidow Beaumont // Jan 17, 2008 at 6:25 am
fair comments jane but maybe something to consider during championship cups
10 Surfwidow Beaumont // Jan 17, 2008 at 6:26 am
re Sky disks that is of course - sorry for any confusion
11 Liv Leigh // Jan 18, 2008 at 11:47 am
What if we use alpha layers to camouflage the sky disks from below? I assume they will still be visible on the mini map. but they won’t interfere with the scenery at ground level.
12 MarkTwain White // Jan 18, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Armchair, Jane, and most of the Coldstream Guard and their barbers have said:
“Armchair said: “Jane, how does this rule apply to the starting marks and the finish marks? (can of worms)”
Smile. I know AC has been thinking about this for some time.
Arm? I have a whole article looking at this problem too, but I haven’t published it because it’s messy and it’s opinionated. It’s a real “Can of worms” as you say. Let’s mull it over some more.”
I must be missing something here. Rule 18.1.a (not included in the body of the article) states that Rule 18 does not apply at starting marks. There is no room at starting marks and therefore no issue of overlap. Looking for the can of worms.
13 Jane Fossett // Jan 18, 2008 at 2:17 pm
MTW assumes that worms come in only one size and only one can.
MarkTwain? There are many worms, and many cans…
(You need to get out more).
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