BUSA Finals @ Chew
Rant against the two flag system!
Don't know why we used it, but I felt really bad for Oxford, as I missed at least two calls with them, as I was watching another boat and waiting for them to fly a yellow flag - when there was another critical incident near the finish - which I missed!
Then there were other Umpires saying we had to green a lot of incidents because competitors have gone straight to a yellow. If we didn't see the red (assuming that it might have been displayed) then we have to green as the procedure has not been properly followed. There were a couple of reds shown that were delibertately notfollowed by a yellow - fair enough if you don't want to risk it but for the system to work we need enough umpires on the match to be watching that boat and the others for further incidents. With limited umpiring the two flag system ties you up for too long. Then there is the issue of do all the competitors realise what they should do - the perpetual briefing point is that flags are not clearly displayed.
Talking of flags not clearly displayed there were quite a few breakdowns where there was no red flag displayed. Hard on the boat that tried to fix their main halyard by capsizing the boat - very seamanlike - but they forgot to wave the flag before getting on with fixing things and so couldn't be given redress.
Sometimes we are just so hard on the poor competitors.
Oxford came up with a nice move of going after a boat on another leg of the course - infringing rule 23. There seemed to be a consensus that if it did change the race they would get a black flag and it would be treated as a "professional foul". This one is going to be interesting.
Don't know why we used it, but I felt really bad for Oxford, as I missed at least two calls with them, as I was watching another boat and waiting for them to fly a yellow flag - when there was another critical incident near the finish - which I missed!
Then there were other Umpires saying we had to green a lot of incidents because competitors have gone straight to a yellow. If we didn't see the red (assuming that it might have been displayed) then we have to green as the procedure has not been properly followed. There were a couple of reds shown that were delibertately notfollowed by a yellow - fair enough if you don't want to risk it but for the system to work we need enough umpires on the match to be watching that boat and the others for further incidents. With limited umpiring the two flag system ties you up for too long. Then there is the issue of do all the competitors realise what they should do - the perpetual briefing point is that flags are not clearly displayed.
Talking of flags not clearly displayed there were quite a few breakdowns where there was no red flag displayed. Hard on the boat that tried to fix their main halyard by capsizing the boat - very seamanlike - but they forgot to wave the flag before getting on with fixing things and so couldn't be given redress.
Sometimes we are just so hard on the poor competitors.
Oxford came up with a nice move of going after a boat on another leg of the course - infringing rule 23. There seemed to be a consensus that if it did change the race they would get a black flag and it would be treated as a "professional foul". This one is going to be interesting.
posted by Nigel Vick at
5:25 AM
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