Racing Rules of Sailing

[Chiara’s slave]

Did you though...

The answer to the question in the thread drift is that ensigns and courtesy flags should not be worn when racing. Technically they should be hoisted after finishing and before entering port. But in reality this very rarely happens.

And that’s not as alarming as it sounds as every racing yacht has a very big registration number on display, on the sails and on the hull. Very often preceded by the letters ‘GBR’.

 

[michael_w]

Never dump the guy until you are ready to dowse the kite. Slip knots in the lines will stop you losing all that expensive dyneema and snap shakles overboard.

 

[DJE]

They seem to have forgotten an important piece of sail handling kit - the boat hook.

 

[zoidberg]

Given the vessel's position the real question is clotted cream or jam first?

'He's not as green as he's cabbage-looking...'

 

[ProDave]

At the risk of being ridiculed, what wee they doing trying to fly the spinnaker upwind and in those conditions?

 

[Stemar]

Given the vessel's position the real question is clotted cream or jam first?

It rather looks to me as though the clot wasn't the cream, and he got in a jam

Written as someone who's never got a spinnaker wrong and never will.
(I don't do spinnakers for precisely the reason shown in the photo)

 

[flaming]

At the risk of being ridiculed, what wee they doing trying to fly the spinnaker upwind and in those conditions?

Normally that sort of thing is the result of failing to drop it properly on the run before turning upwind.

 

[The Q]

My boats not got a spinnaker, neither are there large numbers on the sails..

I suspect a spinnaker drop has failed during a race, just rounded a buoy, and to prevent the boat being ditched they've freed sheets to keep sailing while someone sorts the spinnaker halyard.

 

[Daydream believer]

Written as someone who's never got a spinnaker wrong and never will.
(I don't do spinnakers for precisely the reason shown in the photo)

If you have a reasonably fit crew then you could be missing a good bit of fun when sailing.
Spinnaker flying is soon learned & adds to the skills, giving a sense of acheivement after a fast down wind run.
Or it could just turn a light wind drift into something a bit quicker

But to each his own & if you don't like it then so beit.

 

[flaming]

9 times out of 10 that particular situation is caused by whoever is calling the drop. Specifically that they called it before the crew was ready. Normally because the bowman didn’t have the lazy guy in their hand ready, so when the guy is blown the kite just disappears. Often made worse by the helm not being sufficiently downwind.

The other time is caused by the guy getting blown but the halyard not, jammed in the clutch etc, and then the helm just rounding the mark and going upwind anyway which in any breeze will rip the lazy guy out of the bow team’s hands.

 

[johnalison]

If you have a reasonably fit crew then you could be missing a good bit of fun when sailing.
Spinnaker flying is soon learned & adds to the skills, giving a sense of acheivement after a fast down wind run.
Or it could just turn a light wind drift into something a bit quicker

But to each his own & if you don't like it then so beit.

I used a spinnaker for a good many years and had a lot of fun with it, or rather them. The first time was when we did a Blackwater race from Osea. I had decided to make sure it was a nice gentle day before trying but it was a downwind start in F 4-5 and everyone else was putting up spinnakers, so I had no choice. We actually got quite good at it, originally in a 26’ Mystere, with my 10yr-old son on the helm, my wife dealing with the lines, me on the foredeck trying to look useful, and our 7yr-old daughter in the cockpit giving instructions.

From time to time I try to introduce the old spelling ‘spinaker’ but I don’t feel I’m getting anywhere.

 

[Stemar]

If you have a reasonably fit crew then you could be missing a good bit of fun when sailing.
Spinnaker flying is soon learned & adds to the skills, giving a sense of acheivement after a fast down wind run.
Or it could just turn a light wind drift into something a bit quicker

But to each his own & if you don't like it then so beit.

Just Madame and me, both well over retirement age, on a Catalac, so not the ideal crew or the ideal boat. Besides, Madame gets nervous about me going forward in anything but a flat calm.

What we do have is a big genoa. It comes so far aft that it's sheeted from a block on the transom and, with the wind aft of the beam, that's offten all we use. Yesterday, we saw 8 knots in 15 knots of wind, though we did have a bit of help from the tide

 

[zoidberg]

I recall a remark by the redoubtable Mary Lack in her kitchen that "Catalacs can, in certain conditions, go sideways just as fast as they can go forwards...."

 

[Stemar]

I recall a remark by the redoubtable Mary Lack in her kitchen that "Catalacs can, in certain conditions, go sideways just as fast as they can go forwards...."

I think that's when you try to tack them, but aren't going fast enough to get round.

On the plus side, no one's ever managed to tip one over.

 

[Concerto]

On the plus side, no one's ever managed to tip one over.

That's because no one has tried sailing them hard and fast.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

That's because no one has tried sailing them hard and fast.

They are like some ladies I know. Built for comfort, not speed.

 

[dunedin]

Did you though...

The answer to the question in the thread drift is that ensigns and courtesy flags should not be worn when racing. Technically they should be hoisted after finishing and before entering port. But in reality this very rarely happens.

Tricky to hoist the ensign after finishing and before entering port when doing the Middle Sea Race - which starts and finishes within the tight confines of Valletta Harbour.
But suspect the officialdom are relaxed about that.

 

[Daydream believer]

They are like some ladies I know. Built for comfort, not speed.

And you know the other sort as well do you?

 

[Chiara’s slave]

And you know the other sort as well do you?

Very, very well, thank you.

 

[johnalison]

Tricky to hoist the ensign after finishing and before entering port when doing the Middle Sea Race - which starts and finishes within the tight confines of Valletta Harbour.
But suspect the officialdom are relaxed about that.

I think it is generally a matter of practicality and time, and how lazy the crew are. I’m sure we always re-ensigned after a race, but in any case it is not usually a matter of hoisting so much as shoving a pole into a socket.