Annapolis Newport Race

[SEC16518]

No big deal.....But we got pushed over at about 1-2 min before.  We started west of the mid-boat.  I didn't want to get too far from the line with the wind being so light, took that chance of going over early.

Our AIS went out about 4-5 times.  We realized it pretty quickly and had to reboot it.  Not sure why that happens, but we could tell it happened once the other boats nearby went missing on the screen.

 

[SailRacer]

AIS makes it much different than listening in to the noon reports on the NPT-BDA races of years gone by (Always while you are trying to sleep)..

Sail Safe!

 

[Thistle1678]

So I had to go back and look at the WOXI AIS protest in 2018... It was also never heard technically. It'll be interesting once one of these infractions gets to a room to see what happens.  Yes it's on for safety but it also provides live data to your competitors in range so it's a disadvantage to have it broadcasting to the fleet.  How high is the burden to proof it was, (or was not) operational? Time will tell, from the Nav station I love it for nights being able to hail specific vessels on close approaches also to know which vessels are actually crossing close in the first place.  I sleep slightly better (the little sleep that I get) knowing we're visible in case I didn't see some commercial traffic earlier.  It changed the game, ok, but we gotta keep it fair and all use it and not be afraid to call out to vessels that don't have it functioning.   

 

[F18 Sailor]

We recorded Zuul on our AIS receiver from the start until they pulled well ahead of us after Cove Point, and I have the data log / track to back this up. 

For those observing weak AIS signals, its most likely low quality cables & connectors that’s the problem.  

We just replaced our cable with LMR400 and can now routinely pick up signals 50nm+   But even so there were a couple boats during this race that only showed up on AIS within 1nm. 

Zuul’s AIS dropped once out of the bay, confirmed by others above and noticeable to us. Certainly could be unintentional or a malfunction, but the correct response, once you know you have an issue is to broadcast a securite with your position.

 

[F18 Sailor]

From the yellow brick I knew they were close to Kenai and we saw them most of the way on AIS. We were within sight at the end and nadda on AIS. I woulda been creeped out at night in the fog knowing they’re close and running dark. Rules hell, safety! 

Agreed, that is sketchy, even the Bloc Island Ferry was pushing out security reports for safety.

 

[F18 Sailor]

I logged one of the protests when finishing but didn’t file as I missed the time window from sailing home but offered to witness the other.   There were two boats not transmitting and one blatantly turned it on/off when near commercial traffic on multiple occasions.  I screen shotted  my ais tracks that clearly show this. Both boats were called out by other competitors on VHF before leaving the Chesapeake.  Personally, I  think safety infractions should be brought to the OA and they should file protest/inquire and not leave the onus on a competitor.  One of these non compliant boats beat us due  to a tactical move at the end of race that we didn’t see. 
 

I won’t bitch about it anymore but believe OA’s need to address  in their SI’s and clearly state what the penalties  will be for safety infractions. 

...and  the second protest was dropped after discussion about it most likely being  dismissed by jury. 

Any more details as to why it was dropped? I would think there were enough logs from close boats to make a clear case.

Also, for reference, there generally isn’t any penalty for going to the room and having a protest like this dismissed, and at least having cause documented. Well, the penalty is the time suck on the one protesting.

I do think the rules should be clear with specific penalties, but even then sailing is a self-policing sport. It is up to the sailors to report infractions through protests, not the OA to police the race!

 

[Lanes Cove]

I was just made aware of this discussion of Zuul's choosing to go silent on the A2N this year.

just to set the record straight , we also race an Aerodyne  and were obviously tracking Zuuls progress down the bay and noticed early in the afternoon she went silent.

we were both  lucky enough to skirt around any cells that could have been an issue, so we were disappointed to see this random omission on our screen. 

We  were in the lead pack out of the bay and knew she was just a little west of us heading to the tunnel. There were 2 super container ships that were heading out and would converge about the same time as us going over the tunnel and there was a lot of traffic chatter on 16 and 13 directly to our boat and another nearby J44 they could identify by AIS. There were repeated calls from both container ships on 16 and 13 for a vessel  they had on radar but could not see on AIS and gave their location.

we knew that was Zuul and after a couple attempts I was able to raise them on 16. I told them that there were 2 large ship trying to reach them for traffic concerns, then I asked them " are you aware that your AIS is not transmitting"   Their response.... " no, we'll look into it"  I heard nothing further on the radio from Zuul and never saw them on AIS for the rest of the race.

Zuul sailed a good race and came in 2nd in class but we heard a couple of boats had filled protests over the "fair sailing" rule. I visited the race committee in Newport and offered to bare witness to their protests only to find out the protests had been withdrawn .

when it is stated in the SI's that all competitor shall transmit AIS and boats go silent, there should be a time penalty regardless of the reason. WTF

 

[Reference]

So the issue with penalizing boats, is how do you determine if it was the transmitter or receiver that's at fault? What's the standard of proof for deliberate vs tech issue vs just weak signal? There's at least 5 possible explanations:

1. AIS was turned off deliberately

2. Technical issue (system restarted, issue w/splitter, etc... -- often not apparent to the transmitting boat)

3.  Weak signal on transmitting vessel b/c of inadequate antenna / cable. It's on, you just can't see them.

4. Weak signal on receiving vessel b/c of their own inadequate antenna /cable. 

5. Atmospheric or radio interference.  

We did this race, and there were several boats in our vicinity that were consistently only showing up 2-3nm away, while were seeing the rest from 20-40nm+.   Guarantee that if those guys were inspected, they probably had their OEM RG58 cable on a 60+ foot mast, which doesn't meet the SERs for 40% signal loss ratio.  Should they be protested too? 

And does the RC have the technical equipment & knowledge measure signal strength?  The calculator for meeting the SER standard is here.  Is this enforced?  (If you're being honest, it's hard to see how boats with masts >60' can get away with less than LMR400 cable, unless their transmitter is mounted at the mast base.)

Edit: Ok, maybe LMR240 for the mast run, with a connection at the base to LMR400 to the transmitter, could just barely meet it. Still have unmeasured losses in the masthead antenna, splitter, and connectors though.

 

[trimfast]

I was just made aware of this discussion of Zuul's choosing to go silent on the A2N this year.

just to set the record straight , we also race an Aerodyne  and were obviously tracking Zuuls progress down the bay and noticed early in the afternoon she went silent.

we were both  lucky enough to skirt around any cells that could have been an issue, so we were disappointed to see this random omission on our screen. 

We  were in the lead pack out of the bay and knew she was just a little west of us heading to the tunnel. There were 2 super container ships that were heading out and would converge about the same time as us going over the tunnel and there was a lot of traffic chatter on 16 and 13 directly to our boat and another nearby J44 they could identify by AIS. There were repeated calls from both container ships on 16 and 13 for a vessel  they had on radar but could not see on AIS and gave their location.

we knew that was Zuul and after a couple attempts I was able to raise them on 16. I told them that there were 2 large ship trying to reach them for traffic concerns, then I asked them " are you aware that your AIS is not transmitting"   Their response.... " no, we'll look into it"  I heard nothing further on the radio from Zuul and never saw them on AIS for the rest of the race.

Zuul sailed a good race and came in 2nd in class but we heard a couple of boats had filled protests over the "fair sailing" rule. I visited the race committee in Newport and offered to bare witness to their protests only to find out the protests had been withdrawn .

when it is stated in the SI's that all competitor shall transmit AIS and boats go silent, there should be a time penalty regardless of the reason. WTF

You are not setting the record straight. You are giving your input of you wanted them to have a penalty and provided the information that you saw fit to do so.

The current word on the street is they paid an electronics company to fix the AIS before the race and to ensure it was working. It was. Sometime during the race, it stopped working again, and even through tries on the boat, they could not get it working again.  So RC and the protestors decided to drop the protest as a result of no foul play involved due to an electronics failure.

You can cry all you want that it is unfair and blah blah blah, but the simple fact is, they beat you boat for boat. They were not getting information from AIS to see your position either.  RC agreed, and awarded them the result, end of story, record is straight as deemed so by RC. 

 

[vtsail]

You are not setting the record straight. You are giving your input of you wanted them to have a penalty and provided the information that you saw fit to do so.

The current word on the street is they paid an electronics company to fix the AIS before the race and to ensure it was working. It was. Sometime during the race, it stopped working again, and even through tries on the boat, they could not get it working again.  So RC and the protestors decided to drop the protest as a result of no foul play involved due to an electronics failure.

You can cry all you want that it is unfair and blah blah blah, but the simple fact is, they beat you boat for boat. They were not getting information from AIS to see your position either.  RC agreed, and awarded them the result, end of story, record is straight as deemed so by RC. 

Hopefully the decision to drop the protest was that of the protesting boat.  If the RC was involved prior to a hearing then THAT would certainly be improper.

 

[Thistle1678]

You are not setting the record straight. You are giving your input of you wanted them to have a penalty and provided the information that you saw fit to do so.

The current word on the street is they paid an electronics company to fix the AIS before the race and to ensure it was working. It was. Sometime during the race, it stopped working again, and even through tries on the boat, they could not get it working again.  So RC and the protestors decided to drop the protest as a result of no foul play involved due to an electronics failure.

You can cry all you want that it is unfair and blah blah blah, but the simple fact is, they beat you boat for boat. They were not getting information from AIS to see your position either.  RC agreed, and awarded them the result, end of story, record is straight as deemed so by RC. 

So they broke a rule, acknowledged they broke a rule, and made no attempt to inform the RC until after the protest was lodged? I mean it's done and dusted, but someday one of these protests needs to go through we're talking safety here not a right of way disagreement.  

 

[Reference]

we're talking safety here not a right of way disagreement.  

How did people even race boats in the days before AIS?   /s

 

[Thistle1678]

How did people even race boats in the days before AIS?   /s

We managed, with a lot of confused VHF calls and radar sets... It seriously has been a great improvement for safety especially after dark.  We also managed before life jackets and required rafts too, and people paid the price.   How dare we make progress? /s

 

[Reference]

just to set the record straight , we also race an Aerodyne  and were obviously tracking Zuuls progress down the bay and noticed early in the afternoon she went silent.

we were both  lucky enough to skirt around any cells that could have been an issue, so we were disappointed to see this random omission on our screen. 

If we are setting the record straight,  it needs to be mentioned that no one was required transmit AIS until 8pm on the first night of the race, per SIs:

3.5 "Each boat shall continuously transmit its position using its Automatic Identification System (AIS) transceiver, required by US Safety Equipment Requirements, beginning no later than 2000 EDT on the day of her start until arriving in Newport or, if she retires, after returning to a harbor and contacting the race office."

Until their equipment failure, Zuul transmitted all afternoon without any obligation to do so, which suggest they were not trying to gain an advantage.  And at least one other competitor also had an AIS failure, and (we) encountered several boats with signals so weak that they only be detected within 1-3nm. 

 

[Thistle1678]

] If we are setting the record straight,  it needs to be mentioned that no one was required transmit AIS until 8pm on the first night of the race, per SIs:

3.5 "Each boat shall continuously transmit its position using its Automatic Identification System (AIS) transceiver, required by US Safety Equipment Requirements, beginning no later than 2000 EDT on the day of her start until arriving in Newport or, if she retires, after returning to a harbor and contacting the race office."

Until their equipment failure, Zuul transmitted all afternoon without any obligation to do so, which suggest they were not trying to gain an advantage.  And at least one other competitor also had an AIS failure, and (we) encountered several boats with signals so weak that they only be detected within 1-3nm. 

Uh yeah, anyway, the point is until some distance race actually adjudicates this people will still switch off their AIS when they feel like going dark... It's in the SER, the NOR and SIs and it's not listed as [NP] or [DP] even which means the OA is serious about it as is US Sailing.  A better implementation might be to require the competitor to notify the RC if they are aware of a malfunction, which would cover equipment failures in most cases.