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

[jack_sparrow]

Oh SPORTSMANSHIP, so they should have told woxi they didn't see them on AIS when they first noticed.

Well they should have if serious and not playing the 100' big dick game to the exclusion of the sports interests.

Stop feeding Randumb with bread more stale than his, where his point though good disappears. He folds like a cheap suit with no food

 

[ROADKILL666]

Pitch fork, check.  Tar, check.  Feathers, check.  :lol:

WHAT A BUNCH OF CRY BABIES 

 

[mad]

Do you really think Trump has had a bad lie in the rough?  

But you're right, I've seen pro golfers take a penalty (many $$$$$$) for incidental infractions.  

Best ask Stormy about that one. 

 

[TPG]

Randy could take this to the highest sailing body in the country. 

But he won’t. 

He could prove there are woxi socks here.

But he won't.

 

[mad]

https://www.sail-world.com/news/213456/Wild-Oats-XIs-skipper-answers-critics-on-S2H-row

We did an AIS check, there is video footage of Juan Vila [top Volvo Ocean Race navigator] doing the AIS check on the way out to the start", an indignant Richards told Sail-World from Sydney.

I’m gonna have to call bullshit on this one. 

 

[Sidecar]

If Richards had given this explanation early on 27 December it probably would have been accepted by everyone. No further questions. Coming three days later following different versions of the same story, it is far less plausible and anyone recalling his indignation and protestations over WOXI’s after race fiasco last year should have a bad taste in their mouths.

If WOXI had VHF/AIS issues before the start they didn’t notify CYCA. They should have.

If CYCA knew there were AIS signalling problems during the race including WOXI, CYCA did nothing to manage it. They should have.

Did CYCA come on board immediately after WOXI docked and flick the AIS switch? They should have.

Did WOXI provide this explanation with their declaration? They should have.

Did CYCA upon receiving WOXI’s “clean” declaration ask for a demonstration and evidence of any subsequent repair? They should have.

Richards admitted AIS “failure” and non compliance and still took the prize whilst playing the victim. How arrogant and unsportsmanlike.

CYCA were complicit in all of this and used Blackjack as a way out. How gutless. I could use other words......

WOXI is an outstanding boat whose achievements will always be a part of sailing history, sadly tarnished by Richards’ actions and behaviour over the last two years.

 

[mad]

It’s obvious you are s fan of arrogance. I first saw MR at the Sanctuary Cove boat show some years ago ago walking to an interview. A young kid asked for him to sign a hat. “Not now I’m needed for an interview” true!

He thinks he is bigger than the sport and his behaviour since hasnt changed my opinion on that. Sad that

He’s not alone with that attitude, a certain British America’s cup skipper has been seen doing the same thing. 

 

[EvaOdland]

Sadly the repercussion of this situation does nothing but tarnish the event and diminish the accomplishments of all the boats and crews that participated.

really shitty outcome...because of one man and the decisions he made in not taking responsibility for putting other boats and his crew at risk by failing to maintain the safety of his boat as specified by the rules.

Lest we forget the insurance debacle that impounded a boat prevented the boat and crew from racing...how is this rule breech different from AIS "failure"?

 

[forss]

MR is like schoolboy with "Dog ate my homework" excuse after getting caught cheating.

If you break rules and it is really not your fault then you will fill request for redress form.

Making excuses days after finish is just pathetic and discredits our sport.

 

[jack_sparrow]

Ok, so I've bit my tongue for the past couple of days but there is so much ignorant crap flying around that I can't stand it for a second longer.

The RRS run over the four year cycle of the Olympic Games and the Special Regs attached to the back of them comes into force from July so that you don't have a change to the Special Regs half way through the sailing season in Australia.

The Special Regs that came into force in July 2013 were reviewed in late 2011. A decision was made to replace an imperfect piece of equipment being a radar reflector with a far superior piece of technology called an AIS. The fitting of AIS was mandated for Cat 1 Races from 2015 to allow a phase in period and recommended for Cat 2 races.

Prior to 2015, if you wanted to track your competitors, who all had mandated radar reflectors, the purpose of which was to make them more visible to commercial shipping, you could fit a radar to your racing yacht, as did most of the Whitbread 60's. With some knowledge of relative motion and a plotting sheet you could determine the course and speed of your competitors or any other traffic by plotting them.

AIS is part of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System and was considered a worthwhile addition to yachts racing in Cat 1 and Cat 2 races. I notice that in the Sydney to Hobart Notices to Competitors that AIS Man Overboard devices are being promoted. Again, another worthwhile piece of safety equipment because a yacht cannot receive a PLB signal without advice from a shoreside receiver. Clearly you cannot track a MOB if your AIS is switched off!

The side effect that AIS could be used as a tactical tool was discussed and discounted due to the far greater benefits for SOLAS and collision avoidance with commercial traffic. Yachts are horrendously poor radar targets.

To say that AIS is only a requirement this year is wrong, it has been in force for the last three editions of the Sydney to Hobart. the Special Regs only require it to be operational, the S.I's require it to be functioning at all times. I would expect that whoever did the Safety Audit of WOXI would have determined that the equipment was functioning correctly.

BTW VHF DSC and MF/HF DSC were also added to the Special Regs in that same review.

To finish of the year I went looking for a post that would be most interesting to reply to. Your opening sentence caught my eye "Ok, so I've bit my tongue for the past couple of days but there is so much ignorant crap flying around that I can't stand it for a second longer".

It was then I found out to my disappointment all you could offer was  simply a chronology of how AIS ended up in WS's Special Regs etc and  concluded with your penultimate statement saying "AIS is only a requirement this year is wrong, it has been in force for the last three editions of the Sydney to Hobart". Now while maybe inferred to your SI's reference, you fail to mention that this year is in fact the first year that the S2H SI's mandate AIS's to be turned on, particularly the TX function that on any serious race boat can be turned off at the flick of an optional switch to RX only or "pirate mode" for most races unless mandated.

So I thought to myself, In your own words you say you have been biting your tongue for days, then post to clear the ignorant swamp, but are totally ignorant yourself?? WTF I thought. Then I read further and it got better under your own hand.

On behalf of myself and all the other dumbfuckers here on SA I extend my gratitude .

How lucky are we boys and girls to have MelbourneA31 both in our presence AND dispensing his wisdom at the same time ?

Go fuck yourself dickhead - I sat on the sub-committee that did the re-write. Got a smart arse answer to that arsehole?

Now I haven't explored further down thread to see if @savoir responded but my guess it got a bit ugly on account of your erudite response, so I will step into his shoes.

First @MelbourneA31 thank you very much putting your time into improving the rules of racing in this sport. However I'm afraid that time invested is where my largese ceases.

I cannot believe someone at the pointy end of rule making at a State/National level chimes in to this thread with nothing to add other than ignorant crap and has no opinion on the foundation of this debacle being "self policing" of the rules.

Please stop doing what your doing in the rule making department for offshore sailing and fuck off. My guess is you have never been outside the sight of the Committee boat, let alone land.

 

[jack_sparrow]

Randy could take this to the highest sailing body in the country. 

But he won’t. 

The building owner won't let him past the door. Wonder who that is???

 

[jack_sparrow]

Jack I’m holding you fully responsible for this whole sorry affair. Or at least your tin foil hat that is.

frant I object very strongly to your inference there. I will have you know I can move very comfortably between both the analogue and digital world.Though in this instance I was confused when @mad said I had to go to the white phone, when the prick knows I'm colour blind.

View attachment 294239  

 

[staysail]

https://www.sail-world.com/news/213456/Wild-Oats-XIs-skipper-answers-critics-on-S2H-row

“We were very disadvantaged because they had their AIS switched off,” Harburg said. “And the rules say it’s got to be on all the time."

A sensible fair-minded skipper of a line honours boat, on hearing the above, said by a respected rival, would immediately and graciously retire. How can this skipper hold up his head and claim he has won when he knows his rival has been disadvantaged?  Why would Harburg say what he is reported as saying unless he believed it to be true?

If the skipper in question thinks his rival might possibly be mistaken about the AIS status he could of course ask around to verify that what his rival had said was right, and when it was confirmed, could then retire. No protest should be necessary. Yacht racing is a sport for gentlemen.

This very entertaining "sail-world" window into the frailty of human nature throws light on the magnitude of personal ego, human weakness and folly, and the embarrassing lengths people will go to try to defend a certain type of behaviour. You only have to ask yourself on reading this piece is "If this skipper was in the right, why would he be so upset and why would he be saying all these things?"

 

[jack_sparrow]

“We were very disadvantaged because they had their AIS switched off,” Harburg said. “And the rules say it’s got to be on all the time."

A sensible fair-minded skipper of a line honours boat, on hearing the above, said by a respected rival, would immediately and graciously retire. How can this skipper hold up his head and claim he has won when he knows his rival has been disadvantaged?  Why would Harburg say what he is reported as saying unless he believed it to be true?

If the skipper in question thinks his rival might possibly be mistaken about the AIS status he could of course ask around to verify that what his rival had said was right, and when it was confirmed, could then retire. No protest should be necessary. Yacht racing is a sport for gentlemen.

This very entertaining "sail-world" window into the frailty of human nature throws light on the magnitude of personal ego, human weakness and folly, and the embarrassing lengths people will go to try to defend a certain type of behaviour. You only have to ask yourself on reading this piece is "If this skipper was in the right, why would he be so upset and why would he be saying all these things?"

Not too sure about your respect thought and you forget Richards now confirmed today it is all AIS true. There is a bit of interesting history between those two teams that goes back that has been buried in recent times, but post the passing of one old guy and this race outcome, that friction has bubbled to the top. Both of these two fuckers have no idea of the damage they are doing to the race itself and by knock-on effect to the sport and quite frankly where they don't appear to give two hoots. After all how long are they both around for, one more 75th S2H, at best?

Two cockwobblers making us all dance to their tune. 

 

[JasonSeibert]

In case you don't know, you can verify your AIS is working by simply loading the "FindShip" app on any smartphone and look up any vessel that has reported a location that made it all the way back to shore. Works great. I use it every time I turn on the boat's communication systems at the dock, just to make sure my signal is getting out. In fact, I'm looking at Wild Oats XI, right now on FindShip. She's heading north at 10.1kts off of Nadgee. Closest boat to her is Melanesian Pride. 

AIS is cool. 

 

[10thTonner]

The “not mandatory” was the true Ricko. The interview reads like it was thoroughly vetted, lawyerd, and spindoctored by the Oatleys. 

 

[jack_sparrow]

In case you don't know, you can verify your AIS is working by simply loading the "FindShip" app on any smartphone and look up any vessel that has reported a location that made it all the way back to shore. Works great

Many small device AIS apps and via browser and via sat so a boat doesn't have to be close to shore. 

 

[jack_sparrow]

The “not mandatory” was the true Ricko. The interview reads like it was thoroughly vetted, lawyerd, and spindoctored by the Oatleys. 

Give him a break. You can only polish a turd so far.

 

[staysail]

In case you don't know, you can verify your AIS is working by simply loading the "FindShip" app on any smartphone and look up any vessel that has reported a location that made it all the way back to shore. Works great. I use it every time I turn on the boat's communication systems at the dock, just to make sure my signal is getting out. In fact, I'm looking at Wild Oats XI, right now on FindShip. She's heading north at 10.1kts off of Nadgee. Closest boat to her is Melanesian Pride. 

AIS is cool. 

Sure and anyone who uses AIS knows that within phone range of shore you only have to have a quick peep at web sites like Marine traffic, Vesselfinder etc. to see a totally independent confirmation that you are "seen" by all, and if I were in a serious race where AIS was mandated I would use that method to check. Who wouldn't?

Sure if you don't bother to check by some such foolproof ways, it is possible you might just possibly not know if you have a malfunction, but that does nothing to change the advantage that gives you over your competitors, and everyone I know who races and understands AIS and its link to pc based navigation for sure does know about switching it off if you don't want others to see your data. My kit came with an optional pair of terminals for wiring up to a switch for exactly that purpose! So far though, I haven't been in a race where even having AIS has been compulsory and I don't think this "mandating" of modern navigation/safety features is a good idea. Where would it all end? Rule books as thick as a bible!

 

[JasonSeibert]

Many small device AIS apps and via browser and via sat so a boat doesn't have to be close to shore. 

My sentence was poorly written. The boat doesn't have to be close to shore, it was the location I was referring to. The information packet has to bounce enough through the mesh to make it from ship to ship to a "base station" where ever that may be.