But these are still sailboats and this is still supposed to be yacht racing, which has stood for the highest standards in sailing and seamanship for more than 100 years. As such they set precedents for the whole sport of sailing that reflect on the concept of seamanship for all mariners. A hallmark of good seamanship is getting safely where you want to go, and to show up with everyone on board who departed onboard.
In fact, the International Sailing Federation (ISF) Racing Rules require that you cannot finish a race if you do not have onboard everyone who was onboard when you started. It is stated in Rule 47.2. However in Race 1 of the LV Cup, ETNZ was allowed to win a race after losing two crew members overboard. They were safely rescued by a chase boat, but that is not the issue at hand. The question raised is the change of Racing Rules that allows this to happen without even a penalty charged.
In my opinion this sets a very poor precedent, not to mention that it is not a sustainable rule in the first place. Suppose the two sailors did not survive? Or look at the ISF Rule 41 clause on outside help. Would you consider the outside help of the chase boat in saving the lives of two of your crew members as a "significant advantage"? But the AC Rules committee got around that by just removing that clause from the Rules as well.
Or what if all the crew were washed overboard on a round up at the finish line and the boat went on to cross the line on its own. Would they still get to count that as a win?
I would propose that the pundits of the race (who by the way are doing a good job of the reporting) devote some air time to this issue and that the Race Committee at least consider some form of penalty to cover cases of crew lost overboard. If there are no consequences for losing crew, the safety factor and image of good seamanship is bound to suffer.
Here are the related Rules, with italics added to the subjects at hand.
| ISF Racing Rules | America's Cup Racing Rules |
47 LIMITATIONS ON EQUIPMENT AND CREW 47.1 A boat shall use only the equipment on board at her preparatory signal. 47.2 No person on board shall intentionally leave, except when ill or injured, or to help a person or vessel in danger, or to swim. A person leaving the boat by accident or to swim shall be back on board before the boat continues in the race. 41 OUTSIDE HELP A boat shall not receive help from any outside source, except (a) help for a crew member who is ill, injured or in danger; (b) after a collision, help from the crew of the other vessel to get clear; (c) help in the form of information freely available to all boats; (d) unsolicited information from a disinterested source, which may be another boat in the same race. However, a boat that gains a significant advantage in the race from help received under rule 41(a) may be protested and penalized; any penalty may be less than disqualification. | 47 LIMITATIONS ON EQUIPMENT AND CREW 47.1 A yacht shall use only the equipment on board at her preparatory signal. 47.2 A yacht shall not permit any person on board to intentionally leave unless ill or injured. Except as a result of a capsize, a person leaving shall not be accepted back on board nor replaced during the race. 41 OUTSIDE HELP A yacht shall not receive help from any outside source, except: (a) help for the removal of an injured or ill person. Once a person has been removed from the yacht, that person shall not be returned or replaced; (b) after a collision, help from the crew of the other yacht or vessel to get clear; (c) unsolicited information from a disinterested source, which may be another yacht in the same race; (d) communication with the Race Officer and Umpires; (e) after a capsize, help to recover the yacht. |
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