The Racing Rules of Sailing
RRS 42 and RRS 45
The situation:
45 FD's are on the starting line 3 minutes before start.
One boat is near by the pin-end ( arr. 3 boatlenght in direction to the starting vessel and a half boatlenght behind the line) and the crew (frontman) is in the water (standing on the ground) fixing boat position.
RRS 42.1 says: Except when permitted in rule 42.3 or 45, a boat shall compete by using only the wind and water to increase, maintain or decrease her speed. Her crew may adjust the trim of sails and hull, and perform other acts of seamanship, but shall not otherwise move their bodies to propel the boat.
RRS 45 says: 45 HAULING OUT; MAKING FAST; ANCHORING
A boat shall be afloat and off moorings at her preparatory signal. Thereafter, she
shall not be hauled out or made fast except to bail out, reef sails or make repairs.
She may anchor or the crew may stand on the bottom. She shall recover the anchor
before continuing in the race unless she is unable to do so.
In my opinion it is an inpropper action under rule 42 because there was no emergency or an other incident to do so. The only reason was to fix the boat in a good position. But by reading the rules I can´t give a reasonable explenation according to the rules.
Who can help?
Thanks
Stefan
45 FD's are on the starting line 3 minutes before start.
One boat is near by the pin-end ( arr. 3 boatlenght in direction to the starting vessel and a half boatlenght behind the line) and the crew (frontman) is in the water (standing on the ground) fixing boat position.
RRS 42.1 says: Except when permitted in rule 42.3 or 45, a boat shall compete by using only the wind and water to increase, maintain or decrease her speed. Her crew may adjust the trim of sails and hull, and perform other acts of seamanship, but shall not otherwise move their bodies to propel the boat.
RRS 45 says: 45 HAULING OUT; MAKING FAST; ANCHORING
A boat shall be afloat and off moorings at her preparatory signal. Thereafter, she
shall not be hauled out or made fast except to bail out, reef sails or make repairs.
She may anchor or the crew may stand on the bottom. She shall recover the anchor
before continuing in the race unless she is unable to do so.
In my opinion it is an inpropper action under rule 42 because there was no emergency or an other incident to do so. The only reason was to fix the boat in a good position. But by reading the rules I can´t give a reasonable explenation according to the rules.
Who can help?
Thanks
Stefan
Created: Today 10:44
Comments
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One could also make it shorter .. limit it to only the last min before the starting signal borrowing wording from 30.1,
"... during the last minute before her starting signal..".
According to RRS 48.2,
RRS 45 states:
In my view, these two rules must be read together:
Standing on the bottom is allowed under RRS 45, but only if the crew is already in the water for a permitted reason under RRS 48.2.
Therefore, intentionally leaving the boat with the purpose of standing on the bottom to hold or stabilize the boat is prohibited under RRS 48.2, even though RRS 45 allows standing on the bottom.
In my opinion, the only situation in which holding the boat while standing on the bottom is allowed is when the crew has left the boat unintentionally, for example due to an accident such as a capsize. In such a case, the crew did not violate RRS 48.2, and RRS 45 permits them to stand on the bottom while recovering the boat.
For the situation described at the starting line, the crew member left the boat intentionally to fix the boat’s position. This is not an emergency, nor an accidental departure, nor swimming. Therefore, even though RRS 45 allows standing on the bottom, the action is not permitted because the way the crew entered the water violates RRS 48.2.
As others have pointed out, anchoring during a race is quite common in some distance races (Block Island Race comes to mind). I've anchored in that race and in the bay outside Ensenada to hold position against a tide once the wind died.
I understand why holding your position at the start line by standing on the ground feels wrong to some. But I don't think it is precluded by the rules.
I also think there are few cases where it is possible and makes sense to do this.
I think RRS 48.2 covers the entire action of being outside the boat.
So I do not believe that a sailor can leave the boat “to swim” and then perform a completely different action afterwards.
"She may anchor or the crew may stand on the bottom."
Anchoring and crew standing on the bottom are used in the sentence as equivalent actions.
That said .. I can see your argument that the way 48.2 is worded isn't clear relative to the connotation of 45.
Maybe someone on the forum can ask for clarification from the Q&A Service. I'd guess that they would say that intentionally going into the water to stand is encompassed within "to swim".
I think "to swim" here is a very broad sense of purposely going into the water and remaining in the water. .. and if the water depth allows .. such a crew could stand on the bottom and not break a rule.