I just received the latest supplement to my USSA appeals book. I have not read all the cases yet, but there are a couple of useful new appeals.

Without going into detail, the summary for the corrected Appeal 5 still says that 'ignorance of the rules is no excuse for breaking them'. Wouldn't you like to quote that a few times at the pond!

How many times have you heard rather vocal arguments about whether someone is rounding the leeward mark in a 'seamanlike way'? New Appeal 77 (Sept 99) gives an interpretation of the phrase which should be helpful. In this appeal, a boat short-handed and sailed by a green crew was approaching the leeward mark as inside windward (IW). The Storm Trysail Club asked for an interpretation. Should the experience and number of crew members sailing be considered in how much room needs to be given?

The pertinent part of the answer for us states that "interpretation of 'seamanlike way' must be based on the boat-handling that can reasonably be expected from a crew with average experience and of appropriate number for the boat".

Even this statement needs a bit of careful reading. Let's say that in a certain class, the average skipper is not very skilled. Could the phrase 'for the boat' apply to the experience of the crew, or does it apply only to the number of crew in the boat? I would think that it applies only to the number in the boat. And what does 'average experience' mean? Average of those in the event, or in the region, or something more broad?

I would think that 'average experience' for us would mean average experience sailing and racing R/C yachts. The average AMYA skipper. It would not be class specific, or region specific.

There is a bit more that is helpful too, with respect to inexperienced skippers. The answer in this appeal begins with "neither the experience of IW's crew nor their number is relevant in determining room." So phrases like 'hey, I can't seem to get this boat to turn right', or 'I'm doing the best I can' just don't carry much weight.