Hi Jim,

I understand exactly what you are trying to do, because we tried the
same thing for many years in both TSC club racing and in open events
such as Lakefest.

As you know, we get some really high level officials on board for
Lakefest, with national and international race officers and judges. To a
person they told us the closed start/finish line was unworkable. The RRS
do not really accommodate this closure, and anyone appealing a DSQ would
probably win.

If your club is willing to go along with a valiant attempt to modify the
rules it may work, but perhaps not if you have genuine sea lawyers
involved. I agree that a "request" is not a good idea.

We gave it up for Lakefest to avoid the pitfalls. To maintain sanity of
the RC we have changed all the courses to remove the need for a closed
line. Any boat crossing the line other than starting or finishing is way
off course, so the number of incidents is very small.

As to your question of wording the SI's, the definition seems pretty
clear. An "area so designated by the sailing instructions [is] also an
obstruction". There is no mention of why the area might be selected,
such as being a prohibited area. There is no automatic designation other
than one that is safety related. It is not allowed to change the RRS
definitions. Therefore the SI's must explicitly designate the area as an
obstruction.

Regards,
Gene Fuller

ProjectPro wrote:
Thanks, Gene and John. Our ham-fisted attempt wasn't to recreate the
RRS 30 system, it was to keep boats out of the finishing area on laps
of the course between starting and finishing. We have boats of widely
differing speeds sailing different courses, and could end up with a
boat under spinnaker hauling butt to finish, only to have to deal with
a slower close hauled boat going back to the weather mark. The intent
is to keep the slower boat out of the finish line for safety purposes.

The reason that we allow someone to correct an error of going through
the line is that the Southern Chesapeake Bay gets some crazy currents
at times, and is possible for a boat to drift across the line without
the helmsman being able to prevent it. Under those drifting
conditions we are less concerned about the posibility of collision.

We are constrained by the shape and size of our Willoughby Bay and
cannot offset the starting line. I'm also not an favor of
"requesting" that competitors do something - there needs to be a
consequence.

It is not a problem that the RC would have to protest a competitor for
violating the line. It doesn't happen often enough for that to be an
issue.

The main question is whether the SIs have to use the word
"obstruction" in defining the area to be avoided, or is the fact that
it is a prohibited area enough to make it an obstruction for the
purposes of Rules 18 and 19?

Gene - Best of luck with the Lakefest Regatta next weekend. I wish I
could be there. It is a wonderful event!

Jim Williams
Willoughby Racers
Norfolk, VA