One of the skills of racing around Chichester Harbour is trying to remember the course around the myriad marks that are available to the race officer. Finding them as you're blatting along at 15 knots is hard enough. But remembering what comes after what is also pretty tough. Trying to do all this while staying upright and avoiding running aground is quite a lot for the brain to cope with. They say that women are good at multitasking, and if that is the case, then all I can say is I'm not very in touch with my feminine side. But as far as remembering which mark comes after which, I have got a lot better at that, thanks to a trick I learned from master mentalist Derren Brown.
If you've not heard of Derren Brown, he's a magician/mind reader/hypnotist/showman, a sort of mix of David Blaine and Paul McKenna. But the bit that I was interested in was learning some of his powers of memory. I went to see his show in London's West End the other day, to see if the amazing stunts he pulls on TV are as impressive in real life. And they are. He had memorised the names, addresses and telephone numbers of two entire London phone books. If you called out your name and address, Derren would recite your phone number right back at you. Now, I'm not making any sort of claims to such powers of memory, but when faced with the prospect of having to remember a series of marks around Chichester Harbour, I used the Derren Brown technique of concocting a story to help me remember the order to round them. A course of: Transit, Marker, Freddie Brooks, East Head, Park, Finish, then became a story about a Transit van that left a Marker on Freddie Brooks's East Head and then Parked at the Finish. Idiotic, I know, but it worked.
This particular occasion was for one of the 14 fleet's most cherished trophies, the Gallon, which Fourteeners have been racing for since the year dot. We started the race out in Hayling Bay, completed three of the longest laps that I have been round in a long time, and then the memory game began as we raced back past Hayling Island Sailing Club for a tour of the Harbour, before finishing at the Itchenor line, three hours later! This is a far cry from the windward/leeward 25 minute races that I have been used to in the 49er for so many years, but good fun all the same.
Looking at the Notice of Race for the 14 World Championships in Auckland next February, I see that we do just one race a day, making a seven race series for the event. I have to say this is just one tradition too far, to my mind. Most classes have moved to a multi-race format of having two or three races a day, which I think is a much better use of everyone's time. Most races have sorted themselves into some sort of pecking order after the first half hour, and by the hour is up there is generally very little place changing going on, unless the wind is shifting all over the place. So why not have shorter races, but more of them, to decide a championship? At least they've moved on from the one-race-a-day format for the Olympics, which is just as well, bearing in mind the fluky nature of the Saronic Gulf in Athens. It really could take all of 11 races, or 16 in the case of the 49er, to decide the deserving champion.
Last man standing
The 49er Europeans, which have just finished in Lake Garda, were on the verge of testing a completely different format that could yet find favour in the future. Sailors were up in arms when it was first proposed to them, and the Europeans were decided on the usual format of a qualifying round leading up to a Gold Fleet final consisting of the top 25 boats from qualification. But my old sailing partner Harvey Hillary, who was coaching the Swiss and American representatives for the Games, said the radical new format had great potential. It involves taking the top five boats from qualifying, and then holding a finals series that takes some of its inspiration from the kiddies' party game, musical chairs. Whichever team finishes last in the first race is removed from the series. Then the four remaining boats compete in the next race, and the last boat in that race is also taken out of contention. Meanwhile, any team that wins more than two races is immediately crowned champion. And so at its shortest, the finals series can be decided in just two rounds, and at its longest it lasts just four rounds. As Harvey points out, this format means the whole finals series takes just an hour, perfect if spectators and entertainment value are at the top of your agenda, and very high pressure for the competitors.
The idea is a variation on a theme from the cycling world, where races around the velodrome begin with eight cyclists, and the last man at the end of each successive lap is removed from the competition until you are left with a winner. If the America's Cup ever wanted to remove the tedium of three months of qualification rounds just to decide the Challenger for the event itself, then here is the answer. You could get it all over and done with in one race, although I suppose that would make it the most expensive race in history. Perhaps Formula One could take a leaf out of the same book. This musical chairs approach to sport is a very cruel but very effective method of whittling the competition down in a way that keeps the spectators excited, and the competitors on their toes.
Arbitrator
I'm all for trying things that maximise people's enjoyment of the sport and minimise the duller or more irritating aspects. The whole protest procedure has to be one of the biggest culprits, as people do not get into sailing so that they can spend hours after racing waiting around with rule book in hand, when they could be drinking, eating, sleeping or driving home. Of course in a sport that relies on self-policing in all but the most elite levels, protest hearings are perhaps a necessary evil. But it is surprising that concept of arbitration hasn't taken wider hold in club sailing. This is like a half-way house where the two aggrieved parties can air their differences before a mediator in a far more informal setting. Both protestor and protestee describe their versions of events, and the mediator - who needs to be somebody well versed in the Racing Rules - advises on the likely outcome in a full-blown hearing if the sailors choose to take it to a full protest. The mediator is likely to advise one of the two parties that he is in a weak position and would be best advised to take, say, a 20% penalty on his finishing position in the race in question, rather than go through to a full protest where he risks a 100% penalty, ie disqualification.
The arbitration process has many advantages. It is less intimidating, takes less time, is to some extent educational, and in many cases offers a penalty that is far less damaging. As I have said with the whole Rule 42 ‘three strikes' issue that overshadows the forthcoming Olympics, a penalty should fit the crime. Brushing your spinnaker over the windward shroud of a leeward boat, for example, rarely affects anybody's race but offers the leeward boat a chance to ‘stick a penalty' on the offending boat. If the offending boat chooses not to take an on-the-water penalty, then a 20 per cent place penalty is still sufficient punishment to deter people from abusing the rule. There is no point in wasting so many people's time on such an inconsequential incident, so why not give the competitors a chance to discuss it through arbitration?
The trouble with a full-blown protest is it is such a harsh measure and such a laborious process that few people dare use it against their fellow competitors. When you are racing against a bunch of people on a regular basis, particularly at club racing level, you don't want to be seen as the Robert Maxwell of the fleet, prepared to take arguments to court at the slightest provocation. But the other side of this coin is that the naughtier sailors then push the rules beyond acceptable levels, when they realise they can crash and barge their way round the course with impunity. There is a real ‘dodgems culture' in some classes that perhaps could be cured by a less draconian arbitration procedure.
Wayfarers
I'm sure that talk of foul play and lack of ungentlemanly conduct is of no concern to a fleet like the Wayfarer. Somehow it is hard to imagine such behaviour occurring in such a venerable class as this, although that isn't to deny that competition will be fierce at their forthcoming International Championships in Toronto. A 17-boat contingent is on its way from the UK to attend the event in early August on Lake Ontario. Strong opposition is expected from Canada, Scandinavia, Ireland and the USA, although the Brits should put up a good fight. If the results at the National Championships are an indicator of form, then Wayfarer boatbuilder Ian Porter and Kevan Gibb from Hayling Island should stand a good chance of winning in Canada. They won the Nationals ahead of sailmaker Mike Macnamara and Simon Townsend from Norfolk Broads Yacht Club and Mike and Rani Pert of Waldringfield.
Keen Wayfarer sailor Roger Cerrato told me about the event and the health of the class, which with 46 entries at the Nationals hosted by Blackwater Sailing Club, is not at all bad for a 47-year-old class. I was recently singing the praises of the Optimist's ability to accommodate a wide range of weights, and the Wayfarer certainly fits that category. Her ample proportions seem to allow teams ranging from 22 stone to 30 stone combined weight to compete on an equal footing. Nor does age of boat seem to have much bearing on performance, with a number of hulls showing race-winning form for 10 years or more. Wooden hulls are still popular for racing, although no one has had a new one built for some years due to the expense of construction. Instead, Ian Porter's plastic boats are finding favour and there is little to choose in performance terms, more a matter of personal preference either for the classic aesthetics but high-maintenance of wood or the hassle-free appeal of GRP. Fortunately the ill-fated Wayfarer World has withered and died. This was a modified Wayfarer aimed at the sailing school market, with the ‘modernising' addition of a bowsprit and asymmetric spinnaker. What a misappropriation of technology, if ever there was one. It's like fitting a spoiler to a Morris Minor. Thankfully the Wayfarer fleet felt the same way and tradition and common sense has prevailed. Much as I am usually among the first to call for change, some things really are better left exactly as they are.
