Reply To: Europeans in Germany
As Robert has said it is not in the NOR however I agree with Andy that we pay for the jury so they should at the very least be useful.Although they can’t actually apply on the water judging there is nothing to stop the class asking them to do something. It should not be a problem for them to use their whistles and a red flag when they see an incident that they think breaks one or more rules. Then it could be up to the competitors involved to either go to the protest room about it if they believe they are all right or for someone to do some turns. The Jury cannot give an on the water penalty but can indicate they saw a rule broken and wait for someone to exonerate themselves. They can also protest the boat involved if they wish and in fact they should if they believe rules were broken.
The idea of this is to keep the onus on the competitors to uphold the rules or take a penalty if they accidentally break one. In effect it changes nothing from what we should be sailing by anyway however it can act to promote penalty taking.
Perhaps the best idea is for this to be raised with Ossi as not only is he an International Judge but he is chief organiser as well and knows the jury very well. This can come from the association or from OKDIA. Personally I think it is a great idea.
I have to say though that if Andy thinks there are more rules broken at the front of the fleet he is dreaming. Most of the top guys show a lot of respect not only for each other but also for sailing fairly and within the rules. More problems occur with those who are not so sure of the rules. Remember also that a protest should never be personal. It is merely a disagreement over who is right or wrong and the jury is there to make that decision.
Also if you do as Robert suggests and T-bone someone it is very hard to say you tried to avid a collision and you can also be disqualified!
