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We were racing this past weekend in Manistee, Michigan with Cramracing.com and had an interesting finish on Sunday that resulted in two protests being filed and a huge swing in the results. I would like to get input on best racing strategy, and confirmation if it was ruled correctly.
Downwind leg toward the finish line, 200 yards out, we had 3 boats abreast all heading towards the pin end of the line, all on starboard tack. We will call them boats 1, 2, 3. Boat 1 was leeward, boat 3 was windward. Boat 1 was clear ahead when the sequence starts, but was being overtaken by boats 2 & 3. Boat 3 was heading a clear course to just inside the pin end of the finish line.
Boat 1 realized he was being over taken, and yells 'Leeward boat!' and starts heading to the pin. Boat 3 on the far end holds his course, sandwiching boat 2, which hollers the name of the skipper on boat 3 (we are all good friends) and starts to give way. There is simultaneous contact between all three boats and boat 1 hollers 'Protest, Protest, Protest', as they all proceed to the finish line with boat 3 crossing 1st, then boat 2, then boat 1.
After hearing the protest of boat 1 and boat 2 (which did NOT yell protest on the course), it was decided that both boat 2 and boat 3 are disqualified and awarded points as number of registered boats +2.
It was very exciting racing, and although the contact seemed very coincidental, the change in the results was huge! Almost too much penalty as it significantly altered the final results. (Due to lightning the 1st day, we didn't get enough races in to throw one out)
What are your thoughts on the ruling, and the strategy here?
Thanks in advance. By the way, I was on race committee and didn't even realize all this was going on until we hit the beach 4 hours later and got the protests. I did watch the exciting finish, and just thought it was great racing!
_________________ Steve 1979 Hobie 16 "Orange Crusher" 2017 Hobie 16 "Cayman" sails 114795 
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