Seems to me the person that sails the most consistantly should win. If Joe's worst finish is a 5th, and John's is a 25th (which he throws out), why shouldn't Joe win?
John had a bad race and still was rewarded with a victory (no breakdowns, no one interfered.., just a bad race and it happens to everyone once in a while).
I know I took second in two major nationals on that exact basis -- my worst finishes were around 5, while the winner was throwing out numbers in the upper teens.
Sort of a socialistic or communistic rule. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Rick
With or without discards, it can be dodgy. At our nationals last Sept., excluding discards, the first 2 boats were on equal points. I had: 2, 6, 1, 1, 2. AJ had: 1, 3, 4, 3, 1.
If there were no discards, I won because I had 2nds where she had 3rds. With discards, I won by 2 points.
The races are in order, so if you look at them you will see that she beat me in 3 of the 5 races. But as Rick said consistancy counts.
On top of that, we were racing on handicap with F18s, Hurricanes & Darts, so when the Spitfire results were taken on their own, we both had 1sts and 2nds, so she beat me in the Spitfire class, even though I won the event overall.
All goes to show that it's a lottery anyway <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
