Page 64 - Judge Manual 2017

I.8.3 Reaches

At the start of the leg, the Judges should actively discuss and decide if surfing
and/or planing conditions exist. If the conditions are marginal, Judges must
frequently reconsider as small changes in wind may cause surfing and/or
planing conditions to come and go.

An increase in boat speed does not necessarily qualify as surfing (rapidly
accelerating down the front of a wave).

On reaches one competitor will often begin to surf by pumping illegally and start
gaining on other boats. Seeing this, other boats may also begin to pump
illegally, to maintain their position. Ideally the Judges will act before this
happens, but if not, they should penalize the first clear breach they see.

In the rare cases where the Judges lose control of the fleet and the majority of
boats are breaking rule 42, Judges must act. They should penalize the first
clear breach and keep penalizing until the fleet starts complying with the rules.

Judging when one wave ends and another start can be difficult. You can judge
the end of one wave as the end of a surge of boat speed. When a boat is
planing the competitor is not permitted to pump, even though the boat may
move from one wave to another.

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