-----
Original Message -----
From:
bcmurray
To:
uncle-al@home.com
Sent:
Tuesday, September 04, 2001 1:33 PM
Subject:
starting rules question
Hello
there. My name is Brian Murray (Bad Karma - a Northstar
727),
and I was protested at the Cornucopia Regatta at the Dalhousie Yacht
Club
in Port Dalhousie, Ontario, Canada (western end of Lake Ontario) this
past
weekend by Magic Misty, in the main/jib 2 fleet. The
protest
was thrown out on a technicality but that left me with no gain in
knowledge
of the rules. Here is what happened:
I (Bad
Karma) was on starboard in an 8-knot breeze with about thirty
seconds
to go before the starting gun. The Committee boat was the favored
end and I had just enough room to pass her stern as there were two
boats
to leeward of me: Pennies Five and Magic Misty
respectively.
All were within a couple of feet of each other.
Magic
Misty was attempting to luff me and my leeward boat, Pennies
Five,
who was between us, in the hopes that one or both of us would have to
come
around and make another approach to the start line. Magic
Misty
was screaming for room and to move up (very loudly and with insistence
in his voice.) Anyway, Pennies Five at first spoke to me
and
said "Keep going, there is plenty of room for your start." A
moment
or two later he asked for room because of the insistence of Magic
Misty.
I immediately tacked away and then tacked back to the start line,
giving
room to Pennies Five. In doing so, I felt I had done
exactly
what was required of me. After the race I was informed that I was
being protested by Magic Misty for not giving the required room
to him. Pennies Five refused to be a party to the protest
either as a protestor or as a witness.
Now for
the question: Am I required to give room to someone down the
line--who,
by the way, I cannot see and as such, am not sure who he is talking
to--
or only to the boat to my immediate leeward side (in this case Pennies
Five)?
Brian
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