It seems the RS200 class is tackling a problem head-on, a problem that I suspect dwells in many dinghy classes. It is the thorny issue of rules observance and protests, and some people in the RS200 fleet have decided that enough is enough. RS Association chairman Pete Vincent and RS200 Committee rep Trudie Danbury sent out a letter to the class members outlining their plans for making 2006 a "Year of Rule Observance".

While the class has enjoyed record turn-outs at championships and open meetings this year, Pete and Trudie detect a dropping in the standards of rules observance. "We seem to have discussed this many times in the past, but not done much about it. So, next year, we'd like to make 2006 the Year of Rule Observance. Sailing is unique in that it is a self-policing sport; we're supposed to enforce the rules but protests are unpopular, unsociable, confrontational, take up far too much time and consequently, not as common as they should be


"The class committee would like to introduce quicker hearings to resolve disputes. The RYA Racing Charter describes procedures for Advisory and Mediation hearings. The aim is to resolve disputes, without there being a protest, in a timely, informative and positive way. The hearing takes a few minutes, in front of a single, experienced rules mediator. If the facts are agreed, the mediator explains which rules were applicable, whether a rule was broken and by whom. The infringing party may
exonerate themselves by taking a specified, reduced penalty (eg 20% penalty). The protestor retains the right to a normal, full protest, and the penalised boat does not have to accept the reduced penalty."

Shake hands

It's never been clear why the mediation process hasn't become more popular before now. Having experienced it at the 49er World Championships in Perth back in 1997, I can't understand why we haven't seen it spread over to this side of the world. On that occasion, I wanted to protest another boat for a mark rounding incident and we were both advised that we could go into mediation rather than into a full-blown protest procedure.

Standing in a corner of the boat park, an International Judge heard a very informal discussion of the incident where both sides put their case. Having heard the case for and against, the judge then gave his assessment of the case and believed that I had a strong case against the other sailor. Now the sailor could ignore the judge's warning and take his chances in a formal protest hearing, but in this instance he took the 20 per cent penalty on the chin. So he came away with some sort of result rather than a DSQ, we all shook hands, and the whole thing was resolved in less than 10 minutes. So rather than wait in line for a protest that could have taken us into the early hours, we could get on with other more interesting things, like eating and sleeping.

If it can work at Olympic levels of competition there seems no reason why it shouldn't be adopted at a broader level. It's no surprise to see Pete Vincent as one of the driving forces behind such a good initiative. He is also one of the brains behind the Crewsaver Top Club regatta which has proved so successful over the past couple of years.

Pete says people in the RS200 don't want the hassle of protesting. "The trouble is when someone shouts ‘protest' at another boat these days, it's seen as an empty threat. People aren't taking their 720 penalties nearly as often as they should. And we've seen some of the front guys bullying their way past other competitors. All that has to stop."

So with the help of the RYA, the RS200 class is actively seeking to appoint a judge who will be paid to tour the racing circuit next year. Pete says the appointed judge will serve three functions:

  • to act as an adviser to help educate the fleet and improve their knowledge of the rules
  • to act as the mediator in the event of any protests being filed
  • to chair the protest committee in the event of any protests going beyond the mediation process.

The third elements seems a little controversial, as once the judge has advised the protestor and protestee of his expert opinion at the mediation stage, human nature says that the judge will be prejudiced in his decision if either competitor chooses to take it through to a formal protest. Pete was not unaware of this potential conflict of interests, but pointed out that it is hard enough for the average sailing club to form a coherent protest committee, so having an expert judge as both independent mediator and the chair of the committee is probably the lesser of two evils.

With the sailors also aware that the judge will be out on the water observing the racing, Pete's hope is that the fleet will soon fall into line and that the standard of rules observance will improve accordingly. "If the judge does his job well, it could almost reach the point where he does himself out of the job." But human nature also tells us that as soon as the judge departed, standards would gradually slip back to their current level. So the plan is for the judge to become an integral and ongoing part of the RS200 racing circuit. Hopefully the long arm of the law will make the racing more fun for everyone.

If you want to find out more about the RYA Racing Charter, which has been designed to promote fairer sailing in much the same way that the RS200s are tackling the issue, then you can read more at: www.rya.org.uk/Racing/charter/

Top Club

Pete Vincent also updated me with plans for the third edition of the Crewsaver Top Club next year. "We've changed the entry requirements for the event. You can still enter only if you're representing an RYA-affiliated club and we still have three distinct handicap divisions. But what we found was that sailing clubs with small inland waters struggled to find a boat to fit the fast handicap division, while the sea-based clubs that race on tidal waters struggle to find a slow-handicap boat. So now we're saying that you can enter provided your three boats come from at least two handicap divisions." So this means a little inland club could now enter two slow-handicap boats and one medium-division boat, for example, and not have to worry about recruiting a non-existent trapeze boat from the club.

An interesting anomaly that Pete has noticed in the entry lists for the past two Top Club regattas is that a standard rig Laser has not appeared in the line-up for any competing club. There has been the odd Radial or 4.7 rig, but no standard Laser, which must surely be one of the most popular club racing boats in the country, if not the most popular. Why should this be? Pete comes to the same conclusion that I have pointed out from time to time in Rolltacks, which is that the Laser is overhandicapped. The current system of sailing clubs submitting returns to the RYA to be crunched into the Portsmouth Yardstick database seems to do a reasonable job most of the time, but if the results of major handicap events are anything to go by, it has been harsh on the Laser. 

At the other end of the scale, the system is not responsive enough to cope with the pace of development in progressive classes such as the Merlin Rocket or the International 14, let alone a foiling International Moth. As Simon Payne mentioned in Rolltacks a few weeks ago, he has won handicap races by such a large margin that he still would have won if he had raced off the same handicap as a Tornado catamaran.

To give the RYA system its due, it does permit sailing clubs and handicap regattas to adjust the PY numbers of certain classes as they see fit. But as Pete points out, for a sailing club committee to veer away from the standard RYA-provided numbers can lead to all sorts of politics and accusations of bias, so it is an area that many choose to avoid in favour of a quieter life.

However, in the case of the Top Club regatta, Pete says they are seriously considering adjusting the PYs of some boats for next year's event. Perhaps others may follow. Such is the annual turnout for the Bloody Mary, for example, that the organisers at Queen Mary Sailing Club may have enough data from past years to be able to calculate their own PYs. A thankless task, I know, and one they won't thank me for suggesting! But under the current system there are some boats which we can describe as ‘handicap bandits' and others that must sadly be viewed as ‘handicap victims'. The Laser is certainly one of the latter.

Turning a new Paige

Talking of the Laser, in the women's Olympic singlehanded circuit, 18-year-old Paige Railey has cemented her world number one status by adding the women's Laser Radial World title to her ISAF Youth World title. It seems that just as Robert Scheidt retires from his dominant position at the top of the men's Olympic Laser scene, the women's scene is set to go through a similar period of dominance by one sailor. That said, Railey didn't actually win any individual races whereas Scheidt wiped the floor in the recent Worlds at the same venue of Fortaleza. The young American did just enough to edge out France's Sophie de Turckheim by two points.

Of course, there are a number of British sailors that will be keen to prevent Railey or anyone else getting too comfortable at the top of the rankings. Lizzie Vickers came 10th just ahead of Laura Baldwin in 11th, with a number of other Brits making the Gold fleet. These are early days in the new women's Olympic singlehander and no doubt the RYA will give our girls the support they need to get into the ‘Medal Zone' by Qingdao 2008.