ISAF World Cup Finals 1

I was lucky to be able to attend the ISAF Sailing World Cup Finals in Abu Dhabi which brought the top 20 sailors in each of the Olympic class boats for 3 days of competition. I was able to be the Jury secretary, which meant I got to hang out with the 15 International Judges/Umpires and go with them on the water several times.  Needless to say I learned a lot, in addition to having a great time.  The next few posts will be about my experience.

First, there was an interesting experimental starting sequence. Instead of the usual 5-4-1 sequence, it was a 5-3-1, with an unusual (at least for me) "soft black flag".  As the Sailing Instructions, explained it:

Minutes before Starting Signal	Visual Signal	Sound Signal	Means
5	Class Flag	One	Warning Signal
3	P,I,U or black flag	One	Preparatory Signal
1	Preparatory flag removed	One long	One Minute
0	Class flag removed	One	Starting signal

In addition, during the last 3 minutes, a hand-held numbered flag with a 3, then 2 and then 1 was displayed to indicate the time to the starting signal. And finally, a black/white checkered flag was displayed with the start signal -  although this was a bit confusing since the finish line was between a black/white checkered flag on the committee boat and a similar flag on a pin buoy. 

In this video clip from a 49er start you can see the system (at least I hope you can see it - Blogger makes it pretty grainy).  There is the U flag (see below for what it means) as the Preparatory signal and the small hand-held flag at the back of the committee boat is changed as each of the last 3 minutes goes.

I asked a number of people what was behind this experiment. No one seemed to know, although some said it was to improve understanding by spectators. But the answer I liked best was that it made no difference since all the sailors used their countdown watches from 5 minutes and didn't really look at the flags.  But I wonder - I would think that seeing a flag or hearing a sound signal at 3 minutes instead of 4 could be confusing.

The U flag - the soft black flag - was usually displayed as the preparatory signal and this meant that if any part of a boat was over the line, she is disqualified without a hearing, just as in a black flag situation. However, what was a bit disconcerting was that the Sailing Instructions also provided that "When flag U is used as the preparatory signal rule 29.1 Individual recall does not apply."  This meant that if a boat was over with the U flag flying, she would sail the entire race before being aware she is disqualified. I saw this happen several times.  It would have been a lot more fair to have a notice board at the first mark listing the boats disqualified.