Cadiz was a resounding success, not only from a British perspective but as a regatta generally. It felt like a privilege to be there competing. For many of us it is the closest we will get to feeling what it must be like to be competing at the Olympic Games.
Everywhere you went, there were sailing legends walking, talking, cycling or scootering around the venue. You couldn't get anywhere without your photo accreditation, and the security presence was strong, although sometimes you sensed it was there more for show than for any real purpose.
I felt sorry for some of the other classes that weren't part of the main show, such as the 470s who were stuck up the coast at Rota, all by themselves and with none of the buzz or atmosphere that we enjoyed in the main centre at Puerto Sherry.
But the quality of sailing out in the Bay of Cadiz was quite stunning. The 49ers in particular were very lucky with the breeze. The first two days of qualification were held in the hot, windy Levante offshore breeze, which stirred up a nasty chop just right for sending 49ers cartwheeling on the bear away, as we soon found to our cost.
Long mainsheets, short masts
Suddenly, the mainsheet that we had been using happily for a year seemed too short, and we ran out of reins when we reached the windward mark. Two bear-away capsizes right in front of all the coaches in their RIBs - very embarrassing. Needless to say we put on a longer mainsheet the next day, and no problem. What I would have given to have had a two-foot longer mainsheet the day before, though.
Still, we came away relatively unscathed compared with others that day, not least the Red Bull boys, Alister Richardson and Pete Greenhalgh, who broke their favourite mast when ‘ragging' the kite. This is slang for flapping the gennaker to take some speed off and avoid pitchpoling into the back of a steep wave. I've not known anyone to break a mast like that before, and considering the wave-jumping antics this particular team have put their boat through on the breaking waves of Hayling Bar, it was particularly unfortunate for them that it should happen in the most crucial championship of their careers.
Ian Barker and Dan Newman were even more unlucky as their Tornado ended up with a big hole in the side after a windward/leeward collision. Dan was lucky that he didn't get a hole in his side, and that it was the boat that took the brunt of it. He was badly hit but amazingly got away without any broken bones. With the speed of the Tornado Sport these days, the closing speeds of these machines doesn't bear thinking about. Barker would have been travelling upwind at about 15 knots, and the boat coming downwind would have been doing perhaps 20 knots. Barker said the other cat should have luffed up to minimise the impact or even avoid it, whereas their instincts told them to bear away, which only exacerbated the crisis.
Talking to 49er coach Richard Parslow about Barker's collision that evening, he was reminded of an incident in the very early days of asymmetric spinnakers on the 14s, when he was crewing for Neal McDonald at a Rutland open meeting. Neither of them were fully compos mentis on the Sunday morning, after a big trip out the night before, so they were taken a little unawares during a downwind leg when Neal was hoisted off the back of the boat by a gennaker pole that had caught his trapeze wire and sent him flying around the mainsail leech. The crew of the other 14 on port gybe, who had not seen Neal and Richard, were mortified that they had knocked Neal's head off. Fortunately, there was no harm done, and Neal's head popped up laughing, and attached to the rest of his body.
Asymmetric Appendix?
But regular readers of Rolltacks will know where I am heading with this. It comes back to the debate that has raged through the letters page of Y&Y throughout the summer. And I promised to pick up where I left off last fortnight on my discussion with rules guru Bryan Willis. In answer to the question of whether to reverse the windward/leeward rights rule, or make any other rule change for that matter, Bryan says the answer to this dilemma is quite simple. "If there is a significant minority of sailors who all feel that the basic racing rules do not serve them as best they could, then they should consider having their own appendix of separate racing rules." Bryan points out that this is already the case with team racing and match racing, and if you look through your rules book you will find the appropriate appendices.
The danger here might be that sailors familiar with one rule might find it difficult to switch back to using the other rule in other classes or in handicap racing. But Bryan says the team racers and match racers seem to have no problem switching between regulations, and after all, most of us remember to drive on the wrong side of the road when we're abroad, and singles tennis players remember that the ‘tramlines' make a tennis court bigger when they're playing doubles.
Perhaps an asymmetric class like the 18-foot skiffs should trial an alternative rule and report back to ISAF on the effectiveness of the change. The other one that perhaps needs addressing is the issue of leeward marks and gates with asymmetric boats that sail big angles downwind. A boat coming in from one side of the course can have rights on a whole load of boats on the other side of the course, as by the traditional overlap rule the boat can hold the overlap from hundreds of yards out. There could be a queue of boats waiting to round the leeward mark, but a boat blasting in from a long way back has rights on all of them if he holds the inside overlap. Somehow this doesn't seem right, as the boats that have been waiting their turn have to yield to another boat that was way behind.
Open the gate
I don't particularly have an idea on how to suggest an alternative ruling on this problem, but it would be interesting to hear if you have any suggestions on another way of addressing this leeward mark situation. The situation is exacerbated further with the leeward gate situation, where some sailors are legitimately claiming rights on the port/starboard rule, while another boat could be shouting for water at the mark. If you've done much racing with leeward gates, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about - it can be a very confusing and chaotic place to be.
That said, I'm a big fan of the leeward gate, as it keeps the fleet tighter together. In a sport where most situations tend to favour the leaders because of the effects of bad air and chopped up water on the boats behind, I think it is right to create a course that maximises the opportunities for the backmarkers to get back into the race. A single leeward mark plays into the hands of the leaders as there is only one exit from the bottom of the course. A leeward gate creates many more options, and creates a huge tactical part of the race that wouldn't otherwise exist.
It has tended to be the asymmetric classes that have adopted leeward gates, but I believe they are just as relevant to traditional spinnaker or even singlehanded boats. The same principles apply, of creating as many opportunities for the back end of the fleet. And I believe classes that run dead downwind, or near to it, would suffer less of the rules confusion that arises out of the wide angles that asymmetrics take downwind.
One of the things that I noticed in Cadiz was the trouble that Rule 42, the propulsion rule, is currently causing. The great thing about the faster classes that rely on apparent wind, such as the 49er and Tornado, is that pumping, ooching and rocking really do very little to help you. In fact, if you're not careful these actions just shake wind out of your sails and make you go slower. Whereas in the slower boats like the Laser, Finn or 470, sailors are perpetually running the gauntlet with International Juries patrolling the course.
Yellow Fever
The Yellow Flag works on a 'three-strikes-and-you're-out' basis. The first time you get the Yellow Flag from the Jury, you have to take a 720 penalty there and then. The next time you're disqualified from the race. And the third you're out of the regatta. These seem particularly draconian measures to me. I would have thought being given a 720 each time would be sufficient penalty in itself. At the moment, sailors will set their sailing style as close to the Jury's interpretation of the rule as they dare. As soon as you pick up your first Yellow Flag, however, it is time to be a little more conservative, which must feel very restricting.
There is definitely a line that needs drawing here, about what is acceptable and unacceptable kinetics, and the International Jury community seems to be working hard to come up with globally understood interpretations of the rule, but a 720 still seems harsh enough. A lot of the drive to enforce Rule 42 comes from Paul Henderson, the ebullient president of ISAF, who last year at Hyeres Olympic Regatta was even seen yelling at the Finn competitors to stop cheating. You get the impression that, given his way, there would be no propulsion allowed whatsoever. He uses the emotive term 'air rowing' to describe pumping, which gives you some idea of how he feels about it.
Others might argue that pumping and other forms of kinetics are an art form in themselves, and I certainly believe so, but at the same time it would be a shame to get caught in the same trap of no-holds air rowing such as the Mistral windsurfers have in Olympic competition. Windsurfing in light winds is an all-out aerobic sport and has little bearing on sailing skill or tactical ability. I believe sailing has the balance on kinetics about right, but let's make the penalty for overstepping the mark a sensible one. Make it a 720 every time.
