2018 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: The Race Committee has lodged a protest against Wild Oats XI

[bayboy]

Devils they are.  So long as no one hits the switch.  The S2H is now a distant 2nd to the Fastnet in my book.  No testicles on the RC/PC/IJ.  Shameful.  

So we wont have your company over here in oz we can cope and S2H will still be regarded as best short offshore event, fastnet is a good race but lacks quality at the pointy end of the field bit like Transpac.

 

[carcrash]

Mark Richards: if it’s mandatory and you don’t then you are not racing. Hard to be a simpler concept. You are not a racer, just a waste of space on the course. I am disgusted by your consistently corrupt behavior.

 

[lahana]

AIS fried prior to race start would mean that WOXI was NOT fit to race. The post race declaration would be a falsified statement by the "fried" statement in itself! It'll be like saying that the engine dies before the race, but we won't need it anyway!?! WTF's going on with the RC???

 

[Maw]

Looking forward on topic number 2,  I like the idea of racing with AIS on, it's shitloads more interesting a race for me.

It also makes the sport much more engaging and entertaining for the crew. The last time I looked was that not THE most critical issue we face, attracting and keeping people in the sport?? 

My two cents.

 

[strop]

Hmmm. The notion that the cameraman's transmission fried the AIS transmitter doesn't hold much water. 

Fry the AIS receiver maybe, but kill the transmitter and leave the receiver working takes some remarkable physics. Nor does the excuse match the point where it is apparent the AIS went off. And last of all, it doesn't match the AIS coming live again. 

To be fair we don't know that they were receiving!! Although I am pretty confident they were because it they weren't they would have known that something was up with their system. Unless Juan didn't have it up on the computer which I find highly unlikely. But that been said I quite often don't have it up when I am navigating in inshore where there are lots of boats around. It clutters the screen up too much.

 

[Cal20sailor]

To be fair we don't know that they were receiving!! Although I am pretty confident they were because it they weren't they would have known that something was up with their system. Unless Juan didn't have it up on the computer which I find highly unlikely. But that been said I quite often don't have it up when I am navigating in inshore where there are lots of boats around. It clutters the screen up too much.

How could a cameraman fry the AIS transmitter?  I am not but hung around a lot of EE's worried about shielding etc, but that explanation holds as much water as my GF's panty hose.  

 

[strop]

How could a cameraman fry the AIS transmitter?  I am not but hung around a lot of EE's worried about shielding etc, but that explanation holds as much water as my GF's panty hose.  

Totally agree. But I was just pointing out that no one has said that they were receiving still. 

 

[Cal20sailor]

I wonder if MR will have a job.  He shouldn't.  

 

[umpire]

Britannia rules the waves and WOXI waives the rules! 

 

[Reflex Sailor]

If you implement something, you must be able to measure/monitor it, or it will die.

The measure/monitor for AIS transmission compliance can only consistently be done on the water. 

So this means us. We're a self policing sport, so all good. 

But stop right there. This. means . us. I think we need to get our heads in the game that it really is us. By not protesting, the default position for nearly everyone who sails, we're blowing off the responsibility of self policing. 

No regulation and enforcement? Then the concept of racing under rules will die. 

Looking forward regards monitoring AIS, I'm sitting here thinking:

• How the fuck do I determine when a boat has broken the rule? (Without a WoXI full length of race instance) Is the decision threshold when it's Intermittent? Or 10 mins? An hour? In total?  Should it be cumulatiive? 
  
• How do I know without watching the tracker all the time? 
  
• Will I wait for some other boat on the water to protest so I don't go to the room, or have to look bad?
  
• Do we need to add some clarification of expectations to the meagre one line mandatory requirement in the SI's? 
  
• What about distance? Will another boat 5nm away protest me for going silent when it's  because I''ve got a little mast?
  

I think the marker for going forwards is that for offshore the RC needs to give themselves the right to protest competitors for situations like this irrespective of reports from competitors - this really needs to be on the RC to monitor.

 

[shanghaisailor]

So we wont have your company over here in oz we can cope and S2H will still be regarded as best short offshore event, fastnet is a good race but lacks quality at the pointy end of the field bit like Transpac.

A bit of thread drift perhaps but I will go with it.

Have you ever sailed or even read anything about sailing north of the equator (or even outside Australia)?

The last Fastnet entry (over 330 boats which was almost 4 times this year's RSHYC) The entry filled less than 10 minutes after it opened and included 7 round the world racers, a smattering of IMOCA 60s - how many in the S2H history have there been ANY IMOCAs - and even forward thinking enough to allow multihulls to race the course instead of just thinking about  it.

Lacks quality? A race where the coverage is dominated by a 10 year old race boat with more face lifts than an aging Hollywood starlet is hardly "Pointy end", the saddest thing for me with the media focus on the 100 footers is that the contenders for the true Sydney Hobart prize, the Tatersall Cup tend to get lost or missed  in the backwash.

Well done the two RP66's; Alive and the ladies on Wild Oats 10.

Anyway, I am off to meet with a bunch of young Topper sailors this afternoon. That's the "pointy end" for the future of our sport.

 

[ozmultis]

S2H will still be regarded as best short offshore event, 

ROTFL

 

[savoir]

I think the marker for going forwards is that for offshore the RC needs to give themselves the right to protest competitors for situations like this irrespective of reports from competitors - this really needs to be on the RC to monitor.

The RC has every right to protest WO today for lodging a false declaration. There is no time limit for doing this. See SI 27'7

 

[Reflex Sailor]

The RC has every right to protest WO today for lodging a false declaration. There is no time limit for doing this. See SI 27'7

YeAh I get that but somehow I think the bar is higher for a protest based on wilful dishonesty rather than simple non compliance with the SIs - I’m suggesting that for issues other than boat on boat breaches, the technicality that WO got off on be eliminated.

 

[Cal20sailor]

YeAh I get that but somehow I think the bar is higher for a protest based on wilful dishonesty rather than simple non compliance with the SIs - I’m suggesting that for issues other than boat on boat breaches, the technicality that WO got off on be eliminated.

Yup.  The IJ did for a lack of a better term, 'ducked for cover.'  Oatley should act like a man/woman and do the right thing.  This is not their father's legacy.  

 

[Cal20sailor]

But you have to prove wilful dishonesty

At that point we quit using the word Corinthian.  If I'm on a boat that cheated and it came to my knowledge, I wouldn't think twice about reporting it.  I think Sledracr said it best, this is the sport I love but I don't love what it has become if this stands (my voice after the comma).  The Oatley family should be ashamed by this whole fiasco.  I'm sure they're fine in an ivory tower somewhere, but , there dad must be rolling over in his grave.  Shameful.  

 

[johnr]

Very interesting reading.  No-one comes out well - Wild Oats IX, Black Jack, the Race Committee, the list goes on. 

If the AIS was added as a mandatory piece of safety equipment that is an important tool to help locate boats, especially in the event of really tough weather conditions, the failure by race management to monitor and alert boats seems a major failing.  Or get rid of this requirement.  

Pity this issue has overshadowed all the great stories - Wild Oats 10, the race for the Tattersal Cup, TP52s, etc.  Maybe the Oatleys ought to give Wild Oats IX to the women - damn fine racers who ran a solid race plus alot better PR than the current crew.

 

[trt131]

If the AIS was added as a mandatory piece of safety equipment that is an important tool to help locate boats, especially in the event of really tough weather conditions, the failure by race management to monitor and alert boats seems a major failing.  Or get rid of this requirement. 

It is not an important tool to help locate boats, it is an anti collision device.  i think you are getting mixed up with the tracker.

 

[Flotsam Oz]

It's nice to know the AIS on Oats is working now. Providing a nice safety net as they poddle off home, north up the Tasmanian coast.

 

[trt131]

It is shameful that there are so many on this forum that desperately wanted WO DSQed and are really butthurt that it didn't happen.  Now they are attacking the Oatley family without knowing them and their values.  Bob would be upset, but upset at the loathsome sledgers' on this site suggesting the family were cheats, particularly those from outside of Australia who only know of the family by what is written by faceless idiots on a sailing website.  I guarantee none of those people would have balls to say those statements to their face or even by email and sign your real name.