Get out of my way! I'm racing!

[benjenbav]

I was reading a piece in the Times a few days ago by Mike Atherton saying that Merv Hughes, fine fast bowler and wearer of a superb moustache, had admitted that he had only shouted abuse at batsmen he really rated. Hence, it was something of an endorsement of one's skills to be the victim of a Merv mouthful.

By analogy, if Ben Ainslie yells at you when you are sailing, take it as a compliment. If the bloke at the back of the fleet does it, perhaps he views you as a threat to his race - one in which you aren't even competing.

 

[earlybird]

- we didn't even realise he was in a race until he yelled angrily at us.

Pete

When I was a dinghy racer, a requirement was to carry a rectangular racing burgee at the mast-head, ( to be lowered if you retired, esp. in large fleets).
Presumably this still applies.
Did this boat carry one, if not, you could reply that expecting any favours was out of order.

 

[flaming]

The requirement would be to not wear an ensign, and to fly a class flag (usually a numeral pendant).

In theory you're supposed to strike the class flag and wear the ensign on the way out, and on the way back from racing. Never seen that happen though. And I have seen competitors in club cruiser racing wearing ensigns.

 

[SimbaDog]

I'm racing - get out the way"

Reply

"You're not doing very well are you?"

 

[Bobc]

The reality is that things aren't quite so one-sided most of the time.

Yesterday for instance, we had a yacht motoring right in our path as we were sailing upwind on stbd (who wasn't looking and didn't see us until we shouted). we had a windward yacht who stood-on until the last minute (I don't think he knew what "windward boat" meant), and we had a yacht sailing downwind on port tack, sail right across our downwind gate (about 50m wide with a committee boat at one end), who clearly had no idea of what the funny inflatable mark and the boat with flags up was there for, which subsequently ruined one team's race as they had to bin it in to avoid a collision and score a DNF (which pushed them from 2nd overall to 3rd).

Notwithstanding that, I do agree the "I'm racing" does not over-rule colregs, but it does seem that there are an awful lot of people out there who don't:- 1.) understand the colregs, and 2.) don't keep a proper lookout and use some common sense.

 

[prv]

When I was a dinghy racer, a requirement was to carry a rectangular racing burgee at the mast-head, ( to be lowered if you retired, esp. in large fleets).
Presumably this still applies.
Did this boat carry one, if not, you could reply that expecting any favours was out of order.

Yep, as a pre-teenager pottering around Chichester Harbour in my Mirror I knew what a racing burgee was. But it's purely a dinghy thing.

(Actually I had wondered if it was purely a local, Chichester, thing - but you being from Cumbria suggests not).

if not, you could reply that expecting any favours was out of order.

Expecting - or as in this case, demanding - any favours is out of order regardless .

The requirement would be to not wear an ensign, and to fly a class flag (usually a numeral pendant).

This guy did indeed have a numeral on his backstay, which I noticed after the fact. It later helped confirm that I had the right club etc when doing my research online.

Pete

 

[prv]

Yesterday for instance, we had a yacht motoring right in our path as we were sailing upwind on stbd (who wasn't looking and didn't see us until we shouted). we had a windward yacht who stood-on until the last minute (I don't think he knew what "windward boat" meant), and we had a yacht sailing downwind on port tack, sail right across our downwind gate

Certainly true that some people keep a poor lookout, and some people are sadly ignorant of the rules. I'd suggest though that there's a difference between these sins of omission and the very active decision to shout rudely at another boat to insist on rights you do not in fact have.

Pete

 

[Dipper]

Nothing like a few sweeping generalisations to liven up your Monday morning!

I may be wrong but I always thought that a racing boat could be disqualified for not obeying the Rules of the Road with respect to non-racing vessels. I suppose it needs another competing boat to protest them.

 

[Bobc]

Certainly true that some people keep a poor lookout, and some people are sadly ignorant of the rules. I'd suggest though that there's a difference between these sins of omission and the very active decision to shout rudely at another boat to insist on rights you do not in fact have.

Pete

Yes, I couldn't agree more.

I guess what I was saying is that on one side you have occasional bad behaviour from racing people who should know better, and on the other hand you get bad behaviour from non-racing people who should know better.

Pots and kettles, and all that...

 

[cliffdale]

I had 'get out of my way, I'm racing' once. At the time I was solo in a Moody s31, under autohelm making about 1 knot. I was on the cabin roof dropping and flaking the mainsail. The racing boy came from my port quarter. I used 'over taking boat keep clear' and then received some abuse.
This racing boy skimmed past my stern with mm to spare. The twatt passed me then tacked right in front of my bow. I had to leap back to the autohelm and change course to miss him. He sailed on with fingers to me and laughter from the crew.

I reported the incident to the sailing club giving the time date and sail number of boat involved. I received an apology with a mention that the offending crew will be spoken to.

 

[SamanthaTabs]

I'm racing - get out the way"

Reply

"You're not doing very well are you?"

Perfect response!

 

[flaming]

I may be wrong but I always thought that a racing boat could be disqualified for not obeying the Rules of the Road with respect to non-racing vessels. I suppose it needs another competing boat to protest them.

Of course they can. It's stated in black and white in the preamble to part 2.

When a boat sailing under these rules meets a vessel that is not, she shall comply with the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (IRPCAS) or government right-of-way rules.

Any DSQ would need a protest, but this does not have to be by a competitor. It can be by the race committee, or protest committee, acting on information received except from an interested party. This would be a good example, as the email that the OP has sent would count as information received, but isn't from an interested party, as the OP wasn't in the race. If another competitor in the race saw the incident, they would have to file the protest themselves.

My point in the post you have quoted was that the post I originally quoted was of the "all racers are w***ers" variety which is just tedious.

 

[prv]

I may be wrong but I always thought that a racing boat could be disqualified for not obeying the Rules of the Road with respect to non-racing vessels. I suppose it needs another competing boat to protest them.

Previous threads on the issue have suggested that the committee can instigate the formal protest if they receive a complaint from a member of the public (eg, me).

Pete

 

[Dipper]

Of course they can. It's stated in black and white in the preamble to part 2.

Sorry. My post looks like I'm picking on your comments (which I fully agree with). I only replied to you as you seem well informed on racing rules.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Has any one else found its normally the idiots that are at or near the back that shout.
Never had it from someone at the front !!!!
Think that says alot ?

Most racing is handicap racing so the guy winning could be at the back or the middle or anywhere. You've jumped to a meaningless conclusion.

 

[TeamSpirit]

Report it to the Club, and relevant harbourmaster if this is relevant and appropriate?

 

[prv]

Report it to the Club, and relevant harbourmaster if this is relevant and appropriate?

I would guess that the "relevant harbourmaster" is probably Southampton VTS, and I suspect that their level of interest in WAFIs being rude to one another is somewhere below zero

Pete

 

[billmacfarlane]

I had a similar situation with a Sunsail boat in the Solent while I was sailing very broad reach in a F4 wind. He was coming up astern and I got the usual guff about how he was racing. I held my course as was my right and didn't give him permission as it would have meant a jibe for me. He sailed on regardless and I was forced into a crash jibe. I took note of his boat number and dashed off an email to Sunsail explaining exactly why their skipper was in the wrong. Within an hour I got a phone call from what I assumed was their PR department. If it was God help them. I got a lot of patronising bumff as if I was a novice sailor, I've been sailing for 35 yrs, a fact she ignored, and how important racing was to their crews, and how seriously their skippers took it, and never once came an admission that the skipper had erred. The only good thing that came out of it was I got the mobile number of the committee boat and if such an incident happens again I can phone it directly and register a complaint. I should also add that normally I'm more than happy to let a boat racing hold its course but in this instance I did not to jibe in an increasing wind.

 

[Seatrout]

Whether it be on the roads of the UK or in sailing, I always believe that 'Right of Way' is something that others afford to you... it is therefore not a 'right'.
So; in both road and water, there are eejits who take liberties against those with right of way, the art of avoiding a collision is to expect the unexpected from all others and prepare to take appropriate action.
I just wonder how warm the inner glow that you were right is, while sitting at home with the season ended, due to your T-boned yacht undergoing repair.
<By 'you', I do not direct this at the OP or any contributor, just highlighting my point>

 

[Blue5]

Afraid I had the racing experience as well at the weekend when we were rafted to. Without even acknowkledgement that we were there they all trampled the decks to get the sails to the pontoon to fold them. One climbed onto the foredeck to have a conversation with a mate on the pontoon who then proceeded to climb aboard himself to shake the guys hand and when they left presumably to go to the pub my request to put shore lines on with met with disdain but as a token gesture they put one on. I do not blame the crew they have probably not been briefed in the correct etiquette but the boat name has been noted and I would refuse ant future rafting request.