Five boats came out on a beautiful mostly sunny day. It was blowing a steady five to seven knots with gusts to thirteen from the WSW. Falcon dropped a crab pot buoy as a windward mark in front of the Tides Motel, then set up a start line half a mile out. The course was start-crabpot-green buoy-finish. All went well until Falcon, in the lead, hit and sunk the crab pot buoy, leaving the boats behind to shake their heads and wonder where to turn. It was a good ploy – Falcon won the race, followed by Kolus, Kuma San, Murrelet, and a small blue galf rigged open boat. The Tbirds decided to have a second race and took off as the other two boats had yet to finish. It was very similar to the first race, however, since the crab pot mark was still sunk, Falcon hailed to use a visible-to-only-him orange buoy as the windward mark. Good ploy – she won that race too.
You do what you need to do in this hard fought, cut-throat, Frostbite series. It was great to have a couple more boats out on this beautiful day.
Jim Heumann
Thanks Jim. All true. Good thing snagging the mark line is not a penalty. The definition of “Mark” states: “An object the sailing instructions require a boat to leave on a specified side, a race committee vessel surrounded by navigable water from which the starting or finishing line extends, and an object intentionally attached to the object or vessel. , an anchor line is not part of the mark.” When a mark goes missing, the Committee can position a boat displaying the letter “M” (blue flag with White x) to serve as a mark. Such boat need not be anchored. Marks may drift and move and I think that’s just part of the game. But what happens when the mark sinks and there is no RIB to hand to display an “M”??
Rule 32.1 states the RC “may” abandon or shorten course. Rule 34 says
MARK MISSING
If a mark is missing or out of position while boats are racing, the race committee shall, if possible,
(a) replace it in its correct position or substitute a new one of similar appearance, or
(b) substitute an object displaying flag M and make repetitive sound signals.
With five boats out for winter frostbiting the rule is “keep sailing, and make fun of the lead boat.” Win to Falcon!
Small blue open boat is a gaff rigged Mackinaw, restored by the Community Boat Project. Additional work by Haven, Brian Toss Rigging and sails by Northwest Sails. Originally built at Evergreen College in 1983.