I call water.

[flaming]

Club racing, and the likes of the RTI I totally agree with you.

At higher levels the rules are clear. The call is "room to tack" and it has only 2 responses, tacking or a hail of you tack, it is never an option to argue that they don't need to tack. If you think that you can protest AFTER tacking or giving room.

In that situation a hail of "water" means nothing.

You are of course assuming that the crew on the boat being hailed understands the issues that the inside boat has. If they are different sizes they could concieveably draw very different amounts. A call of water could really confuse the outer boat who still have loads of clearance. "room to tack" is clear and unambiguous.

 

[dom]

The rules don't specify the level of racing they apply to.

ISAF Part 1 FUNDAMENTAL RULES #2.

"2 FAIR SAILING
A boat and her owner shall compete in compliance with recognized
principles of sportsmanship and fair play. A boat may be penalized
under this rule only if it is clearly established that these principles
have been violated. A disqualification under this rule shall not be
excluded from the boat’s series score."


The rule you refer to is Rule 19.1:

"19.1 When approaching an obstruction, a boat sailing close-hauled or
above may hail for room to tack and avoid another boat on the same
tack. However, she shall not hail unless safety requires her to make
a substantial course change to avoid the obstruction. Before tacking
she shall give the hailed boat time to respond. The hailed boat shall
respond by either
(a) tacking as soon as possible, in which case the hailing boat shall
also tack as soon as possible, or
(b) immediately replying ‘You tack’, in which case the hailing boat
shall tack as soon as possible and the hailed boat shall give room,
and rules 10 and 13 do not apply."
under this rule only if it is clearly established that these principles
have been violated. A disqualification under this rule shall not be
excluded from the boat’s series score."

You should also observe that precise wording is not specified. You would not under either of these rules be able to put up any realistic defence that the wrong call had been made.

 

[EdEssery]

GM IV calls water.

Around 2pm we were short tacking up the edge of Ryde Sands and found ourselves alongside Gipsy Moth IV.

Moments after this photo was taken she hailed us to give her room to tack. Needless to say, not wishing to be directly responsible for her second grounding in 12 months and the subject of much analysis in YM, we obliged.

It was <u>the</u> moment of the race for us.

Ed

 

[fireball]

Re: GM IV calls water.

You didn't have much choice really ... if another racing boat asks for water or room to tack then you must oblige, if you disagree with their need then you protest ... now perhaps you should've protested the Crew of GM IV !! that'd be one to write in the log book!