"DSK" wrote in message
...
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?

Nothing hypocritical about it--I told you quite a while back that I've taken
off the glove and will verbally attack you personally whenever you do so to
me. It's clearly obvious you can't help yourself w/r/t personal attacks, so
I'm joining rather than fighting. It's so much easier and more fun this
way.


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

I have plenty, thanks.

... 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.

Same here, but by your comment you admit that you've known *some* stupid
racers. Thanks for the verification.

.... 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.

How does 60kt. gusts strike you? How about a squall that left 15' steep
waves in its wake? How about watching a 65' motor yacht (spectator) capsize
in high winds and waves while sailors struggled to stay afloat and alive?
My claims are valid, despite your doubt.

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.

No. We wouldn't want any nannies out there, would we?

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"?

Almost never. Snipe Nationals on the Gulf coast of Florida one year--can't
recall which. We had sailed three races beginning in 5kts and building to
20kts by the third, only to have the RC call the fourth because the wind was
gusting to 35. To their credit, the waves were getting unmanageable, and
the fourth was the last race of the day, easily postponed to the following
day.

Max