How fair is it to have 13 to 17 foot long inflatable boats in the middle of the starting line. I assume they are considered legal obstructions and cannot be touched by a racing vessel. Do they not create large holes in the middle of the starting line w/ 7 feet of the dinghy infront of the line and 10 feet of the boat behind the starting line. It seems to me that three boats will have the best starts when timming the transoms of an inflatable with the starting signal. And do the holes / gaps encourage some to tack immediatly on port or worse start on port? I see the advantage of this line set up if you were trying to start 2 or 3 seperate flights at the same time, granted the kids have to know which starting line would be theirs and not start in somebody elses flight / starting line. I also question the fairness of having the intermidiate boats sag back 3 feet so they can see the entire line- This makes the courese technically longer for the middle starting boats. As race comitte our primary concern is to provide the most fairest race course possible. The secondary concern is to try to provide as many races as possible. If the number of races is so important, then the PRO should reduce the number of legs or the distance of the race course to accomodate more starts. Starts are made so critical that the outcome of races depends more on the clean and clear start over the tactical decission made on the water during the race. I would prefer to place the emphasis on sailing decissions during the race, rather than a start, to win a race. Racers are supposed to “sight” the line to a fixed object on shore to establish a third point of reference for the starting line, not have an intermidiate mark(s) in the starting line. I honestly believe the intermidiate startig boats on the starting line create an unfair advantage for certain boats in the starting sequence. Now the question of what is fair comes up up again between general recalls i.e. toooo many starts taking too much time or giving more boats an “earned” advantage. What I do like is the extra sets of eyes to call over early’s, i.e allowing more boats (a higher %)to be individually recalled in lieu of an instant general recall.
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