Forum: The Racing Rules of Sailing
Is RRS A8.1 fair?
P
Marco CimarostiNationality: Italy
Certifications:
- National Judge
- National Race Officer
0
In a international race, a competitor lost the final first place in application of the RRS A8.1.
In the SI was scheduled 3 races, and the final series score had to exclude the worst score.
His boat, the boat A, arrived 1-2-2, and the winner boat, the boat B, arrived 2-3-1. So excluding the worst score A had 3 point, and the same B, which won by the best score in the last race, with the same number of first and second places thank to the exclusion of the worst score. Clear application of the RRS A8.1. But the competitor in question thinks that this application is not fair, because in the realty the boat A had, not considering the worst score, the best series of scores! He thinks that, for example, that if the boat A had 1-2-3, and the boat B 3-2-1, the application of RRS A8.1 was fair, but not in the above case where the boat A arrived more times ahead of B, and for sportsmanship A deserved to win.
It is proposable a modification of the RRS A8.1, in case of further tie after the verification of the best positions, that before to consider the score of the last race are considered all scores without the exclusion of the worst score?
What is your opinion?
In the SI was scheduled 3 races, and the final series score had to exclude the worst score.
His boat, the boat A, arrived 1-2-2, and the winner boat, the boat B, arrived 2-3-1. So excluding the worst score A had 3 point, and the same B, which won by the best score in the last race, with the same number of first and second places thank to the exclusion of the worst score. Clear application of the RRS A8.1. But the competitor in question thinks that this application is not fair, because in the realty the boat A had, not considering the worst score, the best series of scores! He thinks that, for example, that if the boat A had 1-2-3, and the boat B 3-2-1, the application of RRS A8.1 was fair, but not in the above case where the boat A arrived more times ahead of B, and for sportsmanship A deserved to win.
It is proposable a modification of the RRS A8.1, in case of further tie after the verification of the best positions, that before to consider the score of the last race are considered all scores without the exclusion of the worst score?
What is your opinion?
Comments
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Both boats knew they needed to beat the other in the last race to win the regatta. Boat B won when they needed to. Would it be fair to boat B to rewrite the scoring after the races had been run?
The OA could have changed A2.1 (before the regatta) to no throwouts if they'd wanted to but they didn't.
Second of all, my study of the effect of excluding a boat's worst score shows that, IMHO, it often penalizes consistency, even at the top of the standings ("podium finishes").
On that thought, I have been convincing RC's and competitors to eliminate throw outs as often as I can. I strongly agree with Mr. Chapin that throw outs penalize consistent performance. When I see a throw I often look down the list of the top 5 competitors to see if the throw out rule has changed the results and find it disturbing how often it does. Check out the competitions that are leaders to the Olympics and you will find the same. This does not seem like a sporting way to handle races.
As an alternative, in the DN class our first level tie break is who beat whom the most. It might be fairer than A8.1 if it matters, but has proven difficult to program. But given that choice is arbitrary to some degree, A8.1 is as good as any.
See RRS B8.A8 SERIES TIES - This is supported by Sailwave but you will need to enable it in Setup User Interface and enable Non-standard series tie options
Jon