Mowed down by a racing fleet

[Tidewaiter2]

I have a foot in both camps, but will never let 'racing' get in the way of ..

Answering pennant above Flag DELTA on the starboard spreader plus five long blasts on the horn and just plough on right through them!

I bet it was Chichester entrance, they always do that there ?

...good seamanship. But then I learnt both cruising and racing on the tidal working Thames in zer old days-

In todays 'pay and play' society, however;

surely HISC and the X boat and and Swallow fleets own not only Chi Hbr, but the whole Solent?
Never mind the CHi Hbr Racing Code of Conduct, to which all Hbr Clubs signed up, of course

'Cylinder on the yardarm, wots dat~?, I'm sailing/racing/ never learnt anything about my 'sport' and my responsibilities to other water users.'

'Amateur night at the OK Corral' sums up a sunny weekend in Chi Hbr
Not that I am a GOM AT ALL, AT ALL

 

[Tidewaiter2]

+1

They have the start over on the west by the club house on Hayling and the first and second mark over by the Witterings! About fifty plus dinghies across the mouth of the channel which at best is possibly only 200 yards wide, need I say more.

You east coast sailors who have never experienced Chi harbour on a race weekend, you just have no idea! If you make it out to West Pole without getting shouted at, it would be a miracle!


.

+1, Absolut!

 

[A1Sailor]

We were crewing on a small-ish (<25 foot?) boat with a blue and white spinnaker on finals day, and suddenly we were faced with a fleet of twenty boats, all hell-bent on making the next mark, none of which looked like they would make any space to let us through on our original course.

Amazingly, we got through without serious incident, despite the fact that there really didn't seem to be any gaps to go through. It just has to have been someone from here out to prove a point regarding colregs or racing, surely?

Was your post a genuine one - or are you a troll wasting everybody's time?

 

[Keen_Ed]

Not to run screaming when you see the sunsail fleet coming is.....

 

[Tidewaiter2]

The Right Sort of Yottie Chap/Chapess will strive.....

Not to run screaming when you see the sunsail fleet coming is.....

To be the vrai 'L'Anglais avec son sang froide' or to display what was known once as 'Grace under Fire'*

*
Think Lord Lovat's Piper on D-Day,WW1 RC Padre's and Pipers along the top of trenches, the whole 'Stand up, walk forward, follow me' requirement.

Remember, ignorance is Bliss
And most Sunscum charterers are blissfully ignorant of Colregs-why else is it their AIS CANNOT be switched off in even in a marina- Sunsail need to know where they were sunk

And, Yes, I have Nav'd and Skippered the old 37's in match-racing weeks- Mea Culpa, Maxima Mea Culpa

 

[Seajet]

I don't find Chi entrance too bad, and don't get shouted at; however try going near Itchenor when the keelboats are at it, and even if you drop all sails and motor it's still like playing Space Invaders; the same applies to the keelboats in Poole, I remember.

Most dinghy types have a vague sense of self preservation, but partly as they're all about 1,000 years old anyway, partly as they're rich enough to repair their lovely craft and sod yours, keelboats are this countrys' last best line of defence, way more deadly than exocets - I vote we deploy the lot of 'em to Gibraltar pronto !

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Was your post a genuine one - or are you a troll wasting everybody's time?

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=337843

 

[Tidewaiter2]

I don't find Chi entrance too bad, and don't get shouted at; however try going near Itchenor when the keelboats are at it, and even if you drop all sails and motor it's still like playing Space Invaders; the same applies to the keelboats in Poole, I remember.

Most dinghy types have a vague sense of self preservation, but partly as they're all about 1,000 years old anyway, partly as they're rich enough to repair their lovely craft and sod yours, keelboats are this countrys' last best line of defence, way more deadly than exocets - I vote we deploy the lot of 'em to Gibraltar pronto !

Absolut, but they are often syndicate owned( 3-4 bods), who want a £5.00 discount on a £50.00 shipwrights repair bill.
IMHO, More side than the Duchess in the Importance of being Earnest{for the same reason?}, and tighter than a ducks sphincter

 

[[2068]]

Was your post a genuine one - or are you a troll wasting everybody's time?

Keep up at the back!

 

[Hadenough]

Just a thought but if I want to race a car I need to go to the trouble and expense of getting off the public highway and onto a circuit. Why do dinghy, or indeed yacht racers think that they can take over the fairways to indulge in their pastime? I use the analogy of organising a children's bike race up the M1 on a Friday evening. Think pink spinicar!

I'm off !

 

[Seajet]

Just a thought but if I want to race a car I need to go to the trouble and expense of getting off the public highway and onto a circuit. Why do dinghy, or indeed yacht racers think that they can take over the fairways to indulge in their pastime? I use the analogy of organising a children's bike race up the M1 on a Friday evening.

I'm off !

Because 99% of the time there are long established rules which let everyone have their fun.

It's notable that the foiler Moths in Chichester never seem to cause any bother at all despite being rather tricky to handle, simply because they seem to attract considerate people who approach sailing with a 'professional' ( in the best sense of the word ) attitude.

I might have had a ( reasonably ) light hearted go at the racing keelboats, but I sure as hell don't want just a steady procession of Bavarias, headsail down and motor on, chugging grimly from marina to entrance & vice versa.

Racing sailing boats are generally slow enough to be safe and predictable; your car analogy is more akin to powerboats, which are banned from racing in harbours for exactly your reasons.

 

[Uricanejack]

Did any of them shout ''STARBOARD''

They like doing that lol

I like shouting "Fero Concrete" in reply.

 

[A1Sailor]

Keep up at the back!

Thanks for your reply, Dick.

 

[Seajet]

I like shouting "Fero Concrete" in reply.

There was a Peyton cartoon of a dinghy crossing the bows of a Thames barge, dinghy helm yelling " Starboard ! "

To which the reply is " 15 tons ! "

 

[bbg]

We were crewing on a small-ish (<25 foot?) boat with a blue and white spinnaker on finals day, and suddenly we were faced with a fleet of twenty boats, all hell-bent on making the next mark, none of which looked like they would make any space to let us through on our original course.

Amazingly, we got through without serious incident, despite the fact that there really didn't seem to be any gaps to go through. It just has to have been someone from here out to prove a point regarding colregs or racing, surely?

There is no indication that anyone failed to observe colregs, or yelled at him. No indication if FP was stand on or give way. No mention of any shouting.

Sounds to me like the race boats avoided FP but he was a bit surprised by how close everyone was. When racing I would have no hesitation in ducking a cruising boat by a meter in the right conditions, which would be 100% fine for me but the cruiser might or might not be so happy.

 

[[2068]]

Thanks for your reply, Dick.

My pleasure, Sir.

And yes, this was not a serious thread. But I would not have posted, had not the original poster of the first thread so dismally failed to consider any viewpoint other than his own - it takes two to end up in a close quarters situation. And then he posts "My post wasn't intended to be a serious one. It probably says more about me than anything else that Scuttlebutt and colregs threads was the first thing I thought of..."

.

 

[Daydream believer]

Bbg
Just noticed your signature & am impressed
Tried the link to you tube on my Ipad & got the message
Not available in your country
But I am in the UK
Any other ways of viewing or is it a french only video
Must be the dancing girls!!!!!!!


Sorry to forumites for changing the subject but I suspect we have done that poor old 25 footer with his handkerchief to death by now. Probably drying his sorrows in a pub somewhere explaining to the barmaid that his forum does not understand him!!!!!!

 

[Greenheart]

Blast your horns and stand on.

I'm a bit lost, here. Is the OP's initial tale a little jest, implying that cruisers who fret about racers, are too easily bothered?

I'm curious why the obnoxious expectation of "racers' rights" is not drowned out here by a collective jeer. Do racing boats actually have any formal right at all, to expect other collision regulations to be disregarded in the interests of their weekend's sport? Surely they don't?

Is there any reason, ever, for any part of ColRegs as we understand them, to be waived? Every time the question comes up hereabouts, there are dozens of accounts of discourteous, apparently wholly unfounded claims to right of way, by racers...

...so why don't we simply ignore them?

The passage of a yacht across a racecourse, is an obstacle requiring a racing helm's consideration, just as much as a navigation mark or a wreck. Why should they, as thinking creatures, expect that yachts with other thinking creatures in charge, will conveniently scatter?

Serious question...is there ever the slightest reason to defer to "racers' rights"? It seems to me to be a potentially very dangerous precedent...similar to "kind" drivers slowing in traffic to let pedestrians into a road where they certainly shouldn't be attempting to cross.

Unless there's an unambiguous written rule insisting that racers always be granted space to stay exactly on their courses, I say damn them. It's deeply unwise to let them think anyone will ever let them through, unless we all agree always to do so...

...if we ever bend the rules, we can be certain that racing crews will always assume we feel we ought to let them through, out of generosity, and from our own lack of hurry. Just the sort of nonsensical laissez-faire & confusion which ColRegs were meant to stamp out.

For heaven's sake, if they only wanted to test their ability against each other, they're not so far from open water in which to do so. If they choose to take on the busy harbour/river environment, let them likewise learn not to assume anyone will get out of their way.

 

[Seajet]

Dan,

it quickly becomes obvious how to deal with this sort of thing in Chichester or the Solent; if the 'racer' appears at all considerate or looks a bit like a worried novice, I'll happily go behind them and let them have their fun.

If I'm on starboard and a racer looks snooty or arrogant, ' I haven't seen him ' and reckon my reinforced stem or at least wind shadow will beat their latest dayglo from the boutique chandlery !

I'm happy to report 99% of the time everyone gets on fine while admiring each others' boats ( and of course quietly commenting to crews how we could do it better ) - you'll have to come along for a spin next season, bring a camera and I'll take us through the thick of it, then you can report back here; I think you'd just find it an interesting spectacle, not the end of the world as some would have it.

The Hamble, on the other hand...

 

[Greenheart]

Cheers Andy. Who knows...might have a boat myself, by then...