7th July 2008

Missed AP signal leads to many OCS

By Peter Campbell

Six yachts, more than half the fleet in Division 2, were ruled OCS in the RSYS Winter Series on Saturday,  apparently after failing to note a  postponement signal on the Committee Boat.

Among those listed OCS was the pointscore leader going into heat 8,  Philippe Odouard’s Cool.  As a result Cool has dropped from first to third on the leader board.

Other boats OCS were Zeus II, Avanti, Tingari, Lahaina II and Wizard.

Explaining why so many boats in Division 2 were OCS, Race Officer Rob Ridley reported:

• Postponement Signal raised at 1155 hrs due to lack of wind.
• Breeze fills in from the NE, postponement signal lowered at 1229 hrs
• Start Division 1 at 1235 hrs, full course.
• A couple of minutes into Division 2 start procedure I noticed the front was easing very quickly, so I decided to postpone the start with 70 seconds to go.
• ‘AP’ up at 1239 hrs. Halt to all proceedings.
• ‘AP’ lowered at 1240 hrs
• Warning Signal and ‘S’ flag raised for Division 2 at 1241 hrs
• At this stage we noted that some Division 2 boats had not realised the start sequence had been stopped and had continued to sail as if nothing had occurred.
• 1246 hrs, start remainder of Division 2 boats. No issues.
• 1251 hrs, start Non-spinnaker Division, no issues.

“All procedures were followed correctly. It is up to the competitor to note these signals,” Ridley pointed out.

Photo by John Sligar

The end result was that the winner, for the second week in succession, was Norman Longworth’s Aurelia II,  with Kerstin II (Jim Bowman, Ken Chase and Julian Goldie) second, third going to line honours winner Petite Bateau (Andrew Mathers and Al Chase).  Petite Bateau now heads the Division 2 on 14 points after two discards,  with Aurelia II on 16 and Cool on 17 points.

Ian MacDiarmid followed his line honours win the previous Saturday with Hell Razor by taking first place on corrected time in Division 1, finishing second across the line to another casual entry, Sam Newton’s Radical One.

On corrected times, Hell Razor won from ISuper (Peter Campbell) and Campeador (Jonathan & Mary Threlfall),  the third place lifting Campeador to the top of the Division 1 leader board. 

Campeador is on 18 points after two discards with Honeysuckle on 20 points and Sweet Chariot (Ray Entwistle) on 24 points.

Division 3 saw a win by Christopher Deane’s Tallawonga from Limelight (Alan Husband) and Crackajack (David Galvin/Chris Harper/David Ward).  Pointscore leader Caroline la Douce (Graeme Smith/Peter Jones/Gregory Clark) placed fourth but still is on top of the leader board with 7 points. 

Tallawonga’s win has lifted her to second overall on 9 points with Crackajack on 11 points.

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