CALL GEN 1            

Question 1

There are many occasions when umpires are required to judge the exact moment when the state of a boat changes or when the relationship to another boat changes. Examples are: passing beyond head to wind, establishing an overlap, approaching the line to start, etc. How do umpires ensure that they make consistent decisions?

Answer 1

It is not possible to be entirely consistent and most judgements depend on perfect positioning which is not always practical. Umpires will assume that the state of a boat or the relationship with another has not changed until they are certain that it has changed. For example, a boat is not judged 'beyond head to wind' until the umpires are certain that she is so.
This is known as the principle of 'last point of certainty'.

Question 2

When the umpires disagree or are in doubt, what should the call be?

Answer 2

Disagreement or doubt about the facts may be resolved by Question 1/Answer 1. In many situations the 'Yellow' umpire has the responsibility to observe 'Yellow', while the 'Blue' umpire is observing 'Blue'. In these circumstances additional weight should be given to the observations of the appropriate umpire. When disagreement or doubt remains, and there has been no contact between the boats, display the green and white flag. However, if there has been contact, the umpires should penalize both boats (twin penalty).