Our big (120 boats) Thursday evening series has a new wrinkle; two starting lines. While we have always had two courses, they have shared a starting line. That works well, but with 7 starts on 3 minute sequences, it still takes a long time to get all boats on the course. This is designed to speed this up, but now all three WYC boats have to be manned and on the water.
Last night was supposed to be the first time we ran this on a big Thursday race. So while the breeze was light enough for an abandonment (2-3 knots), the RC decided that they would still at least start the race. Pandemonium ensued, with boats figuring that it was going to be abandoned at some time anyway. Rules were forgotten, mistakes were made. We're eaking towards the line making a grand 1.1 knot, while the Carpi 25s (most on port) all around us 'started' two minutes before. The j70 we are fending off was late to our joint start and motored to a position right in front of us, killed the motor, and stalled.
We finally hit the line and tack into a lane of clear air. Sailed like this for about 2 minutes before the triple-bang put a merciful end to the show.
Last night was supposed to be the first time we ran this on a big Thursday race. So while the breeze was light enough for an abandonment (2-3 knots), the RC decided that they would still at least start the race. Pandemonium ensued, with boats figuring that it was going to be abandoned at some time anyway. Rules were forgotten, mistakes were made. We're eaking towards the line making a grand 1.1 knot, while the Carpi 25s (most on port) all around us 'started' two minutes before. The j70 we are fending off was late to our joint start and motored to a position right in front of us, killed the motor, and stalled.
We finally hit the line and tack into a lane of clear air. Sailed like this for about 2 minutes before the triple-bang put a merciful end to the show.