Knotty Problems
Here’s a situation for all you club bar Racing Rules experts to ponder.:
Imagine the breeze has died during an offshore event and a large modern yacht is totally becalmed in sight of the finishing line. In their desperation to extract some forward momentum from their sails they start canting the keel, back and forward, to produce a rocking motion. That movement flops the sails, creating the intermittent effect of wind, and the boat creeps ahead.
Have they broken the rules?
The applicable section is RRS 42.2 – (Propulsion – Prohibited Actions).
Pumping is defined as “Repeated fanning of any sail either by pulling in and releasing the sail, or by vertical or athwartships body movement”. That wouldn’t apply. But, under the same 42.2 rule, we find:
Rocking, defined as “Repeated adjustment of the sails or centreboard”. That rule was clearly drafted to cover centreboard sailing at a time when canting keels didn’t yet exist (or were not thought to need regulation). A pedantic interpretation would hold that, as keels are not specifically included, the rule does not apply.
But, in any displacement yacht, the keel performs the same function as a centreboard. So, a fair-minded Protest Committee might consider “repeated adjustment” of a canting keel to be prohibited under Rule 42.2. It certainly seems a lot like cheating.
All that is needed for this loophole to be closed would be for World Sailing to add the words “or keel” to their definition of Rocking. In the meantime, if this hypothetical breach ever arises, maybe the other boats could consider a protest under good old Rule 69. Haha!
