Ken Smith
ADMIN
Posts: 289
sail often, travel light
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« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2010, 08:14:06 PM » |
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Safety and Legal Disclaimers. For all the reasons listed on this notice, everyone on the ice is responsible for their own self, racers, observers, volunteers, everybody. Ice boat races occur often in weather conditions that are not safe for those not properly dressed. Ice is slippery often. Long periods of standing around in the cold can be dangerous. Either that or something else sometimes makes people do foolish things not good for their own safety.
Iceboat racing involves people trying to make little wood and fiberglass boxes attain high speed, sometimes at the margins of control, on a frozen lake. During a race, as many as 50 of these little boxes are criss-crossing on an up-wind and down-wind course, converging at marks. The only way collisions are avoided is by alert observation of the other boats and strict observance to some basic right-of-way rules. Even then, there is always the potential for a loss of control, or some slight lack of appropriate diligence, improper observation of the rules, or a mistaken input or lack or steering ability. These basic right-of-way rules don’t even really apply except during racing, but the savy will usually follow them at all times anyway.
For the unfamiliar, the rules can be summarized as follows. Note there are substantial differences form sailing rules on soft water! This is a novice summary, not a legal-language re-do of the NIA rules:
1. Don’t hit anybody or anything with your boat
2. Especially don’t hit any body or any boat not sailing, including fishermen, motor vehicles, skaters, or especially the race committee
3. If you are off the wind (reaching or down wind), you have to avoid any boat sailing on the wind (close hauled) regardless of their tack or your tack.
4. If two boats are both on the wind, or two boats are both off the wind, then the one with the wind coming from the left side of his boat has to avoid the other. (starboard tack has right of way over port tack)
5. If two boats are on the same tack and converging,
a. If on the wind, the windward boat has to give way to the leeward boat.
b. If off the wind, the leeward boat has to give way to the windward boat.
6. If overtaking a boat, don’t hit it, give him room to go where he wants. He doesn’t have to avoid you.
7. You cannot force a boat into a hazard; give him room if he needs it.
8. There are no special rules at marks, read those above, and follow them there, too.
The thickness and strength of the ice is checked by inspection of relatively tiny areas compared to the total ice area. There are almost certainly hazards rendering some of the ice unsafe to walk on or sail over or both. Despite a sincere effort on the part of the organizer to keep these areas either off the racing area, or at least mark and notify participants of the known hazardous areas, some one is not going to get all the information necessary to avoid all the hazards and some of the hazards will not be known. It is often the case that some known hazards exist between the set up areas and racing areas. Hazards include (among other things) cracks, thin ice, ridges, ice chunks, debris on the ice, airplanes, snow mobiles, very rough ice, two layers of ice with water between them (shell ice), plants, gravel, rocks, open holes, gas holes, spring holes, fishing holes, sturgeon holes big enough for refrigerators, and irate locals (?-holes). Avoiding them or passing them carefully is well advised.
This icy surface is notorious for unexpectedly changing at times and locations unknown, for skimming over formerly open water into ice thicknesses insufficient to sustain the weight of a boat or pedestrian, for forming cracks and new ridges, and for opening areas of open water where ice formerly was solid. This is a partial list of hazards. Clearly, no one but you can decide if you want to take these known risks to go out there. Some of us just can’t resist, but you make your own call.
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