SailGP Final Aarus

Edited by Lukepiewalker - 23 Aug 21 at 3:00pm

There was one replay taken from above (drone?) as Ben approached on stbd with 'Japan' coming in on port with an entitlement to mark room at the left hand gate. Ben was heading high enough for Japan to tack inside him  and could easily have luffed a bit higher if necessary, which it wouldn't have been because 'Japan' would have lost about 15kph in the tack and Ben would have been clear ahead in a couple of seconds. 'Japan' had no right to a high speed wide foiling tack as far as I know unless they have modified the rules (in real life Rule 18 does not apply on a beat to windward but it must do in this competition). Sail GP is said to have modelled itself on F1 which it seems to have done very well - complete with incomprehensible steward's decisions!

I think this is the trouble if you go altering the rules. You get odd situations.
The question is whether the text quoted above, which is off the Sail GP website, is the full text of the rules, or just a simplification for the public. I suspect the latter. Unless we know the exact text of the rules in place for the event its difficult to have an opinion.

If  the boat entitled to mark room really is allowed to make the turn 'in any way it chooses', including not turning immediately, then that more or less compels the other boat to go so wide that the other boat cannot luff up to it at any time it chooses to do so, including sailing outside the circle. If that is the Rule then the umpires may have been right. Suppose Ben had dialled down in order to give ;Japan an opportunity to tack and they hadn't tacked but had dialled down as well, resulting in a crash? It would be nice to see their interpretation immediately after the race as they did with the French protest against Hannah Mills at the Olympics. FWIIW in a hundred years of motor racing no one has been able to define when a car taking 'the racing line' is allowed to push a car overtaking on the inside onto the grass and when the car doing the overtaking is allowed a teeny weeny slide towards the defender which takes his rear wheel off.

The rules are here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F-dHKbK0i-N7kgvmXuBaUWgosNdgAOsT/view

It takes a bit of unravelling, as the definition of "mark room" includes the word "room" in italics which implies that it incorporates that definition too.
"Room" brings with it an obligation to manoeuvre "promptly and in a seamanlike manner"

Rule 18.3 obliges a boat that needs to tack at a mark to do so asap, but it doesn't apply at gate marks or to boats not overlapped.

So I would argue that the boat entitled to mark room cannot sail as far as she wants, but is obliged to sail her proper course promptly and in a seamanlike manner.