In article <1164025601.721279.52310.TakeThisOut@m7g2000cwm.googlegroups.com>,
"Stephen Page" <steve.TakeThisOut@the-page-family.net> wrote:
> Off to the hypothetical for a moment. My son rigs his spinnaker
> halyard wth an added knot that holds the head of the sail away from the
> mast by six inches. For him, that is its normal position. However, not
> everyone does it.
"Normal position" is one of those things like "proper course" which, to a
certain extent, is a judgment call. The intent of the definition of
finishing is to prevent you from sticking some part of the boat or crew out
in front of the bow for the sole purpose of getting it across the finish
line faster.
If you can show that the equipment has been in that position for most of
the downwind leg, that should be enough to convince a PC that it was in
it's normal position. With a stopper knot in the spin halyard, that should
be a no-brainer.
On the J/24, we'll sometimes let the spin halyard down about a foot in
light air. If somebody claimed that wasn't it's normal position, it would
be easy for me to point out that it's common practice, not just on our
boat, but on other boats in the class. If we had the chute that way for
the whole downwind leg, it should not be an issue. If, on the other hand,
I had somebody standing at the mast and had them let the halyard droop 12
inches just as we approached the finish line, that would NOT be the normal
position.
Likewise, it's a common tactic on a downwind finish to punch the boat down
when you're maybe a boatlength from the line. Since you're changing your
sailing angle, you need to ease the spin sheet to keep the sail properly
trimmed througout the maneuver. As long as you only eased the sheet that
amount which was required to keep it in proper trim, I'd say the sail was
in its normal position the whole time.
> So, if my son got protested for not having the kite
> "in its normal position", I wonder how the Protest Committee would
> interpret the definition.
It's always dangerous to try to predict what a Protect Committee will do
However, not having a sail in its normal position isn't a violation of the
rules. Well, at least not the RRS; an individual class might have some
more explicit rule about it.
The onus is on the Race Committee to take your finish time properly. If
your spinnaker is out of its normal position at the finish, it's up to the
RC to record your time when you DO meet the definition of finishing. Let's
say you're in a sport boat with a retractable bowsprit. It's normal for
the sprit to be extended on an apparent beam reach, with the spinnaker
trimmed in hard. If, 1/2 boatlength from the finish, you suddenly ease the
spin sheet and let the sail billow out in front of the boat, the RC should
be alert enough to ignore when your sail crosses the line (because it's out
of normal postion) and take your time when the tip of your sprit crosses
the line (because it *is* in normal position).
If somebody protests you, your defense is that you didn't break any rules
by doing what you did. If you were truly a sportsman, you would suggest to
the protestor that the correct remedy to seek would be to request redress
from the RC because they incorrectly recorded your finish time. You would
then offer to testify at the redress hearing that you did indeed hear a
whistle from the RC a couple of seconds before you thought your sprit tip
crossed the line and suggest that your official finishing time should be
increased by that amount of time.
>> Stay informed about: What's a finish 
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