Sunday morning cowea week starboard tack

[iangrant]

Sunday morning we left the Folly Inn and sailed out of Cowes turning right onto a starboard tack.. We avoided, slowed down in fact did our best "help out" the racing fraternity. Occasionally we even got the odd wave to say thank you, more often amidst shouts of “we’re racing get out of the way”. Then the best of the lot, along comes the yellow peril called whisper which was a yellow beast, in fact a first 31 with about 20 fashionable chaps sat up on the rail on a port tack.. I must confess at this point starting to feel a little devilish and fed up with avoiding everything, bit the bullet and stood on. I couldn’t avoid a wry grin as the helmsman crash tacked at the last minute dipping the poor souls in the water, the jib backed and the racer stopped. There was a lot of scrambling around and a few ears emitting steam, one guy shouting "go and play somewhere else"....how rude we thought..

Ian


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[steve_cronin]

They think they own the place Ian and aren't capable of racing amongst the existing (& quite EXPECTABLE) hazards.

Steve Cronin

<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion

 

[farr]

ah so that was you was it

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[jac]

WEll done Ian.

Had a similar expererience a couple of years ago but bottled out at a very close range as they weren;t going to tack.

Maybe should form a fundamentalist cruiser arm that decides to sail on starboard through every race we find (j/k)

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[snowleopard]

a little devil on my shoulder was telling me to go straight through a fleet of 100+ toppers in plymouth sound on tuesday. ashamed to admit i went round them in the end.

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[hardy]

can a mere mobo person ask a simple question . Apart from col regs why do races have priority? be kind. I AM A NOVICE ON THE SEA AND WILLING TO BE ADVISED.

<hr width=100% size=1>KISMET HARDY

 

[benjenbav]

Just courtesy really. Because if I am just going from A towards B it will rarely make much difference if I have to slow down or go a bit out of my way. On the other hand if I were racing, having to get out of someone's way might easily put me out of contention (or at least that much further behind the rest of the fleet than I would otherwise have been) and spoil my whole afternoon.

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[Dominic]

Racers do not have any kind of priority - BUT- They think they do.

Generally if they are polite I do my best to stay out of their way and if they are rude I do my best to return the compliment.


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[jac]

with a small race or a small group of people within a race most cruisers would keep clear.

Problem comes with a large fleet or lots of races going on (like cowes week) racers are all over the place. You can see an almost unbroken line from one side of trhe solent to the other at some stages. How does a cruiser keep clear?

In a case like that no option but to stick to your guns (oh if only) and for cruiser to hold course. Upsets the racer who ofc is more important but needs must. ofc racers don;t see it this way.

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[hardy]

THANKS CHAPS i REALLY THOUGHT i had missed something in my RYA training
especially in Chichester harbour

<hr width=100% size=1>KISMET HARDY

 

[Sans Bateau]

Even if you do keep out of the way it does not mean out of trouble. Two years ago just off Osborne bay on a starboard tack I became aware that we were on collision course with a yacht racing. Being the considerate type (bottled out) I tacked to put us clear, not so much as a wave in appreciation from the helm of the other yacht.

If that were not enough, we then tacked back to starboard and our original course, when the 'racer' also changed tack, this all happened very quickly. With both of us now on a Stbd tack, he was windward, but we were in his way! All we got was a lot of abuse shouted at us.

Exercising the number one rule, avoid a collison. I once again took protective action. As they passed us further abuse was passed our way, what did he want, for us to evaporate?

You want me to be considerate to a 'give way' racing yacht?



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[jimi]

If any incidents like that happen to me in future I will report them to the YC organising the race .. or to RORC or JORG if it is serious enough. I had an incident a while ago when I was going down Soton Water on starboard and I was nearly rammed by a 42 ft racing yacht on port and had to take violent evasive action, 5 minutes later the same yacht now on starboard but windward boat shouted at me to get out the way as they were racing. Needless to say they got a sizeable download of street glaswegian .. as well as a letter to the RSYC .. this habit really needs to be eradicated in congested waters for peaceful co existence.

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[bedouin]

For the same reason that the rules of the road don't apply to BMW drivers /forums/images/icons/smile.gif


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[steve_cronin]

They say that lawyers can never be persuaded off starboard tack.

Steve Cronin

<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion

 

[steve_cronin]

Seamanlike and entirely the right thing to do....

Common sense to do it in that instance. What annoys me is the arrogant club racer who believes he has a god given right to clear water at all times as is enjoyed upon a F1 grand prix racing circuit when in reality he is trying to race around the Arc de Triomph circulatory or Hyde Park Corner in well populated coastal waters.

Steve Cronin



<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion

 

[steve_cronin]

Yes.

Steve Cronin

<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion