Maxprop wrote:
LOL. In a perfect world, maybe. In reality, I've seen things that would
grow hair on your chest--even yours.

Nothing like a little ad hominem when you've been caught
practicing rank hypocrisy, eh?

And if you've seen things that would grow hair on my chest,
what's your excuse?


... The racers I've known varied, just
like the general population, from brilliant to patently stupid.

I've known relatively few that were really stupid.


.... Judgment
goes out the window in all too many situations.

Agreed.


I've been in races that were abandoned when the RC had to leave station to
go rescue boats. That's forgiveable, but to have them simply call it off
because "it's too windy" is just lame.


I've seldom seen a race called because it was "too windy."

In that case, your claim to have seen any chest-hair-growing
situations is doubtful. I've seen RC's keep races going in
30 ~ 35 knots on relatively open water... a good call IMHO,
although a flock of capsized & swamped boats in the starting
area made things more challenging. OTOH I have seen RCs
cancel because the RC boat's anchor kept dragging in 40+
gusts, not a problem because all the racers had gone in.



... I've seen them
called when a wall cloud was spotted trailing a squall line.


Sounds like a situation that could prejudice the
competition... or maybe not... depending on how it developed.


I've seen them
called when the sky turned into an electrical extravaganza.

Silly. I go in when we see lightning... have done so when
leading, in fact. It's a judgement call for the RC, since
they're the ones that will have to go around rescuing people
in a thunderstorm. But the RC should not presume to make
safety decisions for all skippers.


And I've seen
them postponed when the knowledge of the members of the RC indicated that
things could go from bad to horrific. I've also seen them cancelled when
things were predicted to get nasty, but didn't. But I've almost never seen
one called because "it's too windy."


Never, or "almost never"?

DSK