Keeldragger wrote:
Question: A race is cancelled after the start due to bad weather
(lightning). Most of the fleet has finished the race, with only a
couple of boats still on the course. Is the race abandoned and void
for all boats, or only the boats which did not finish? Also, is there
a differentiation between cancelling and abandoning a race which has
already started, or do these terms mean the same thing?


K.D.,

First, the terminology. The word "cancel" is not defined in the RRS, and
it does not have any particular meaning in racing. Once a race is
started the only two possibilities allowed by the RRS are to finish the
race or to abandon the race.

It is not possible to abandon the race for some competitors and not others.

Rule 32 allows the RC to abandon the race for several reasons, including
weather. It also allows the RC to abandon a race that has already been
completed by one or more boats. However, in this case the RC is supposed
to consider the consequences for all boats in the race.

This is one of the few really murky, poorly defined statements in the
entire RRS. What is means is simply that the RC should try to be fair in
deciding to abandon.

Assuming the weather has deteriorated to a point that racing is no
longer safe, then the racing must be stopped without further delay. The
next question is how to be fair to the competitors. I will suggest two
possible directions given your stated situation.

A. The "couple" of boats still racing have high handicaps and are
otherwise competitive. It is possible or likely that they would score
well if allowed to finish the race. In this case the only alternative is
to abandon the race. It is impossible to judge how the scores would come
out, and the only fair alternative is to toss the race.

B. The "couple" of boats still racing are really waaay behind, either as
one-design or as handicap racers. If this is a low-key, club level event
then offering those boats a "finish in place" time and/or position would
be an alternative. It won't really affect the scores and it ends the
race. Of course this alternative is not in the RRS, so it only works for
low-level racing and clear cases of non-competitive racers. If this is a
higher level championship event, then the only alternative is to abandon.

Again, all of this is based on the presumption that you must get off the
water without delay.

The bottom line is that the exact decision to abandon is a judgment call
by the RC.

Good luck.

Regards,
Gene Fuller