WHAT? Was this a temper tantrum or did it happen during the racing?

I only heard the story and saw the aftermath. I heard it was on the beach. The story will hit the surface, just wait. Everyone's being cool about it.

You mean he/she got mad and hit their own boat, thus removing the bow? Or were they trying to "modify" the bows in an attempt to gain some speed? I find it hard to believe that anyone would cut the bows off their own boat on purpose! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> These things are not cheap!

Come on; spill the beans !

Yep. With the Dagger Board. Thats all I'm saying.

Wow. And what did that accomplish? I've got 4 kids and if any one of them ever did something like that...well, it would be quite a while before they ever sailed again.

I don't know what Lars sails in normaly, but when I raced against Glenn in similar conditions 2 saturdays ago (the day before he flew to the U.S.) he cleaned up easily lapping some of the fleet. By the way he did 4 races in a afternoon, none of this pussy 2 race stuff <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.

Bring it on, when the going gets tuff Glenn gets going <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />.

YOU WANT THE BEANS?
Here goes.
I am Steve Clark, some of you may associate my name with C Class Catamarans, Vanguard and other sailing endeavours over the years. I have been racing at a fairly serious level for most of my life. I have even won a world championship or two.
The boat I just chopped into is one that I built. I can fix it if I want to. I can also take the parts off, throw it in a dumpster, and build new hulls in very short order. I am not going to defraud an insurance company lie about what I did and why. I was pissed off and took it out on the hull of my boat that had just been holed competitor who had violated rule 18.2c. He tried to turn inside me at a leeward mark where he had no rights ( did not have an overlap at two boatlengths) and where he did not have room to complete the turn. He was yelling at me "what the f... are you doing" when his bows went through my topsides. I was, quite obviously rounding the leeward mark and avoiding the two overlapped boats in front of me upon which I had no rights. The situation seemed pretty obvious to me and I got a little exercised by this guy acting like it was my fault that he rammed into me and holed my boat. My regatta was over, I had been fouled 3 times in two races, and I was wound a bit too tight for anybodies good.
So I vented, I'm not particularly proud of myself, but my anger only hurts me.
And Timbo, I have 3 kids. If they behaved like some of the sailors on this race track, they would be going without dinner for a while. The ethics of some of these people would not stand close scrutiny. This has been commented on more than once by BJsailor in his event writeups. The a member of the international jury has said they have never seen a fleet with worse grasp of the Racing Rules of Sailing.
If my kids melted down like I just did, I would guess that they would have to do what I am doing, be honest about it and go sailing when you have fixed the boat.
Steve Clark

Steve, sorry to hear about the situation down there but at least you were man enough to tell us, good on you. Bad on the guy who rammed you from behind. Did he get tossed? I know I've been frustrated enough to do some stupid things sometimes, I just can't afford to rebuild my boat! But I might have been tempted to remove HIS bows with my daggerboard! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Bravo Steve for telling us what happened. You made what you consider a mistake and are manning up to it. Sometimes mistakes resolved are worth as much as not making it in the first place.

That's a class act Steve.
You've shown your sons a fine example of how to stand up and be accountable to a moment of bad choice. I hope I'm as able to do the same in my next moment of accountability.

Cheers

Does anyone know?

Sounds like Steve just got himself an F16! (A-cat, chopping, you get the idea).

I just found what's happened to Matt Struble:
his mast broke due to the failure of a diamond wire
What a pity!
He was doing very, very well!

Wow Steve. Sorry you went through that, thanks for taking responsibility. Many of us have been wondering from afar why we are hearing tidbits of "juicy" stuff, but no one is protesting one another. Yet, there were several instances of people being unafraid to go after the RC...

Either the stories are way off, people don't want to be bothered, no one knows the rules, who knows? Where are these reports by BJsailor?

Anyway, hope everything works out for you. Thanks again.

Mike

Steve, I'm also sorry to hear that happened and to a boat that you built yourself! Wow!

I certainly don't want to stir up a sore spot, but I'm interested in a little clarification on the 18.2C rule infraction. It was a leeward mark and I presume both of you were on opposite gybes? If so, overlap is very easy to establish from a LOOOONG distance away and the inside boat is entitled to room but must not sail any further than required to get around the mark...or am I looking at this incorrectly?

A referee at the leeward mark might have kept everyone more honest?

Over on Sailing Anarchy.

Steve --

Good for you for coming clean on the meltdown. I know I have been there all too often all too frequently and all too recently. It is a part of sailing that some of us continue to grapple with.

I have heard several times of unbridled lawlessness on the high seas of Islamorada this past week. Yet, when I peruse the results, I see only one DSQ. Is the Intl. jury ruling on the water and people are clearing themselves with penalty turns? Or is the jury turning a blind eye while they call the racing out of control?

And finally, I am a little confused. You said you were the one with rights over this guy. After being so right that you were "dead right", why didn't you file a protest and DSQ the guy -- if, indeed, you were as right as you say you were? The racing ain't gonna get any better until we take it upon ourselves to do what is right. And if you were right, then most insurance policies will cover the damage. The best way to make sure insurance will cover it is to get a favorable ruling at a protest hearing. So from my narrow perspective here, it would seem that protesting the guy should have been the first order of business for several reasons.

Most of us try to be or want to be corinthian sailors. But there are times when, try as we may, we just don't make the grade. Then there are the guys who don't even try. They just want to lie, cheat or steal their way to the top. In both cases, it is incumbent upon all of us to exercise the rules of racing -- and in particular the protest procedure -- to put everyone in check.

In the first case, the protest is a friendly reminder that we goofed and "fell below the line". In the latter instance, it is a vindictive response to a responsibility each of us assumes when we take to the water to keep the racing clean.

I'd be interested in hearing why you didn't protest.

Why no protests?

Its the culture of the class...

Bob Hodges has written about this culture... their long tradition of no protests, and the use if needed of arbitration... or justice in the sand. This is a matter of great pride by the class. The class banks on peer pressure to keep things clean and sporting.