ICSA Team Racing National Championship @ The Gorge

I've just returned home from Cascade Locks, Oregon (a.k.a. "The Gorge") where I was an umpire for the College Sailing Team Racing National Championship.  A very interesting weekend with some great umpires and fantastic sailing. Congrats to Roger Williams for winning the title in their first appearance at the regatta. Going into the last race of the final four, Roger Williams and BC were tied, winner takes all. So much for those who say a round-robin format isn't exciting; here, it worked out just perfectly.

Here is an interesting call I made. The video is from the other umpire in my boat, who was wearing a GoPro. I'll hold off on posting my answer for now. This takes place at the leeward mark with very heavy (~2 knots) upwind current. The orange boat that gybes around is boat 7. The green boat involved is boat 13. There is contact between the two boats and 13 also hits the mark (that's what I'm relaying when I'm speaking into the radio). No damage. Both boats protest and hail for an umpire decision. 13 enters the zone at around 5 seconds into the clip. What should the call be?



Watch more video of ICSA / APS Team Race National Championship 2011 - College Sailing Nationals on sailgroove.org


Also, here is the full video of the last race. Terrific coverage from multiple camera angles (including an onboard camera on the umpire boat.) I make a call at about 4:05 into the video, you'll hear half of the discussion between the umpires and then the flag:

Watch more video of ICSA / APS Team Race National Championship 2011 - College Sailing Nationals on sailgroove.org

National Sailing Leauge

Check out the National Sailing League, a start-up program to bring broader attention to team racing through innovative media coverage. They will be running a test event at Fan Pier this summer when the extreme 40 catamaran tour comes to town

ISAF Match Race Rapid Response Call 2011-002

ISAF has just posted Rapid Response Call 2011-002. The call states that a boat may take a penalty when a crewmember falls overboard before retriving the crew member. In other words, it finds that a boat is not "continuing in the race" when it is taking a penalty (see rule 47.2).

Suppose a boat has an outstanding penalty and a crew member falls overboard. It would be quite easy to incorporate a valid penalty turn into the maneuvor of picking up the crewmember, unless doing so delayed or interrupted the completion of the turn.

Caught in action

The author (at right) dispensing some justice. Photo by Rob Migliaccio

No wind...

Have to fill those wind delays with something. A member of the umpire team at right; his services were not needed to officiate the table tennis game.

What a joke.

If this is true, it's a sad day for the sport.
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EDIT: Here is the final roster:

Men's Board and/or Kiteboard - evaluation

Women's Board and/or Kiteboard - evaluation

Men's One Person Dinghy - Laser

Women's One Person Dinghy - Laser Radial

Men's 2nd One Person Dinghy - Finn

Men's Skiff - 49er

Women's Skiff - evaluation

Men's Two Person Dinghy - 470

Women's Two Person Dinghy - 470

Mixed Two Person Multihull - evaluation

Glad to see that the decision to drop the skiff was quickly reversed. However, the decision to drop Women's Match Racing -- even before it had a chance to appear in the games -- is lousy. Organizers and competitors have put a huge amount of time and money into developing the discipline, including purchasing nearly 100 Elliot 6m boats. All that work is now for just one Olympics; after 2012, the sport will move in a different direction.