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Last updated: December 6th 2009
Abbreviations:
RC Race Committee
RRS Racing Rules of Sailing
SI Sailing Instructions
IJ International Jury
VSK VskAC32 / Vsk5Online - Whatever at any time is the latest official full version
1. Rules
1.1. The competition will be governed by
1.1.1. the rules as defined in the RRS 2009-2012, including Appendix C
1.1.2. the VSK regatta simulator software (format and umpire decisions), combined with the VSK Adopted RRS (SI Appendix B).
1.2. An IJ will be appointed, not in accordance with RRS Appendix N, and the right of appeal will be denied in accordance with RRS 70.5
1.3. Change RRS C11.1 (b) to has the highest number of wins. RRS C11.1 (d) and (e) does not apply.
1.4. Change RRS C11.3 (a): the tie shall be decided in favour of the competitor who has the highest amount of core ranking points at VSK Match or, should this fail to break the tie, the tie shall be decided in favour of the competitor who has the best win % at VSK Match or, should this fail to break the tie, the tie shall be decided in favour of the competitor who has done most races at VSK Match or, should this fail to break the tie, the tie shall be broken by a draw. When a tie is partially resolved, C11.1 and/or C11.2 should be re-applied to the remaining ties.
2. Entries and eligibility
2.1. Only skippers registered at VSK Match are eligible for the event.
2.2. The participants must have the full version of the latest version of VSK. Use of the free version is not permitted.
2.3. There is a minimum criteria of how many matches a skipper must have done at VSK Match prior to the event. This criteria is 25 matches of which at least 10 must have been raced in 2009, and must be fulfilled within 3rd of October 2009 at 24:00 CEST (GMT+2). This is also the deadline to sign up for the event. Please note that the RC may accept late entries or skippers with less than 25 matches to fill up empty slots in the round robin groups.
2.4. There is space for upto 100 eligible skippers in WMRC 2009. If there are more than 100 eligible skippers, the 100 highest ranked skippers as of 3rd of October 2009 at 24:00 CEST (GMT+2) will define the participants. Exception: Skipper who participated in WMRC 2008 and did less than 51% races in RR1 will be excluded, unless they had a valid reason for being absent.
2.5. The competitors are listed in SI Appendix A.
3. Communications with competitors
3.1. Notices to competitors will be posted on the VSK Match forum, as news items on the front page or by e-mail. It's the responsibility of the competitors to track these sources of information, in addition to the SI.
4. Amendments to sailing instructions
4.1. The sailing instructions of the WMRC may be changed anytime without notice. A change log can be found at the bottom of this page, but will not have entries for changes made before the event begins. Minor changes will not be logged.
5. Boats
5.1. The event will be sailed in Acc type boats - the official version of what at any time is the latest official version of VSK.
5.2. The participants shall use skins with minimum 50% transparicy in the sails. Completely insvisible sails are not permitted.
6. Identification
6.1. The competitors should use the same name on the boat in VSK as at their VSK Match entry.
7. Event format
7.1. Round robins
There will be 10 tables of this kind in RR1 and 2 in RR2.
7.1.1. WMRC begins with a double round robin (RR1). The competitors will be distributed evenly in 10 groups under the "up and down principle", based on their VSK Match ranking as of 3rd of October 2009 at 24:00 CEST (GMT+2). Seeded 1 in Group 1, S2 in G2 ... S10 in G10, S11 in G10, S12 in G9 etc.
7.1.2. The best two competitors in each of the 10 groups in RR1 are qualified to another double round robin (RR2). The groups will be formed as shown in the table below:
| Round Robin 2 |
|---|
| Group 1 | Group 2 |
|---|
| RR1-G1-#1 | RR1-G2-#1 |
| RR1-G4-#1 | RR1-G3-#1 |
| RR1-G5-#1 | RR1-G6-#1 |
| RR1-G8-#1 | RR1-G7-#1 |
| RR1-G9-#1 | RR1-G10-#1 |
| RR1-G2-#2 | RR1-G1-#2 |
| RR1-G3-#2 | RR1-G4-#2 |
| RR1-G6-#2 | RR1-G5-#2 |
| RR1-G7-#2 | RR1-G8-#2 |
| RR1-G10-#2 | RR1-G9-#2 |
7.1.3. In the round robins, the competitors shall race all the other competitors in the group twice (double round robin).
7.1.4. Of the 2 races against each opponent, shall one be with starboard entry and the other with port entry. Who will go at starboard/port first will be randomly decided by VSK at the first race as of what side of course the boats are spawned. If the race needs to be restarted, the original prestart side assignement shall be used. For the second race, the boats swap sides.
7.1.5. The winnner of a race will score 2 points, while the loser will score 1 point. A competitor will score 0 points for a race lost on walkover (which means a race not sailed due to absence).
7.2. Knock-out rounds
7.2.1. The best two competitors in each of the 2 groups in RR2 are qualified to the semi finals (SF). The group winner of RR2 with the highest amount of core ranking points at VSK Match will choose opponent among the two competitors who finished 2nd in the RR2 groups.
7.2.2. The winners of the semi finals will race each other in the finals (F). The losers of the semi finals will race each other for 3rd place.
7.2.3. All series in the knock-out stages will be sailed over best of 7 races. The first competitor with 4 wins is the winner of the series.
7.2.4. The competitor listed first in a pair, which is the RR2 group winner in the semi finals, and the skipper with most core ranking points in the finals, will have stb entry in the first match, port in the next, then stb again, and so on.
7.3. The scoreboard is linked from the top menu of the WMRC site.
8. Schedule of Races
8.1. Round robin 1 start on 5th of October 2009 and should be completed by 31st of October 2009
8.2. Round robin 2 should be completed by 21st of November 2009
8.3. The semi finals should be completed by 5th of December 2009
8.4. The finals should be completed by 19th of December 2009
8.5. The races will not be sailed on a specific date, as the WMRC has a completely flexible schedule within its extents. A competitor must e-mail the other competitor(s) as soon as he knows who he will meet. This e-mail should including complete availability window for the period until the dead line of the round. Make sure also to send a copy of all e-mails to schedule-2009@vsk-match.com. Please use "WMRC: Boatname vs Boatname" as subject of the e-mails. The e-mail addresses of the competitors can be found on their profile pages and below the official list of competitors.
8.6. Since each race is lasting up to 30 minutes, it would be a good advice to reserve one hour for the round robin appointments, and 2 sessions of 2-hour appointments for semi finals and finals.
8.7. The race committee will decide any unfinished races. The competitor who has put in the most efforts of sailing the race will be declared as winner. If both competitors have put in equal efforts, then the outcome will be decided by the RC. Possible race committee decision with regards to unsailed matches is: 1. A 2-0 walkover win to one of the competitors. 2. A 1-1 walkover tie. 3. An unscored race (no points assigned). All information about attempts to schedule the races must be sent to the committee before the deadline of each round, as described in article 8.5.
NOTE: Each series has at least 13 days to find race time, so this should not be a problem. Just remember to start communication with each other as soon as possible after knowing whom your next opponent is. In any case, inform the committee. We have wasted alot of time trying to solve cases where we are missing information from the competitors through the previous WMRC editions. Lack of info to the RC (to the e-mail listed above) about the reason for the unraced match, will be regarded as not an attemt to race, and will be scored thereafter.
8.8. If both competitors in a match series cannot host, and they can't find another solution (ex: find a host that will setup the race and stay as spectator), the winner will be decided on a draw. Remember to inform the other competitor (and the committee) if you cannot host, in the first e-mail regarding scheduling. If you can not host, please check out this convenient help before you give up.
8.9. It is not necessary to finish each race in order to make them official. To save time, the competitor behind may at any time give up a race if it's unlikely that he can catch up.
8.10. A competitor who at the end of a round robin has done less than 51% of her matches, including walkover wins, will have all of her scores removed from the scoreboard. However, if removal of scores will make a difference on which competitors that qualifies for the next round, and these competitors has completed the races against the competitor in question, then these scores will stand. This changes RRS C10.2.
8.11. If two competitors are going to race on the last raceday of a round, then the race committee must be informed at least one day in advance at the following e-mail address: schedule-2009@vsk-match.com
9. Courses and game settings
9.1. Courses to be used at the WMRC can be downloaded
here.
9.2. Hosting instructions
9.2.1. On the first setup screen, select:
Game name: WMRC "opponent name" vs "your name"
Password: WMRC
Password for spectator: wmrc
Race mode: Match Race
Rules mode: Complete (Auto)
Mode: Tactical
9.2.2. On the second setup screen, select the
courses as described in article 9.3.
9.2.3. On the third setup screen, leave all settings as default.
9.3. Courses
9.3.1. Round robin 1
9.3.1.1 Since the competitors are racing each other twice, they will choose one course each, which should both be announced in advance of the races to allow time for preperations. The competitors may choose from the following courses for RR1:
WMRC 09 - Pure F4
WMRC 09 - Pure F5
WMRC 09 - Pure F6
WMRC 09 - Napoli F4
WMRC 09 - Napoli F5
WMRC 09 - Napoli F6
WMRC 09 - Marseille F4
WMRC 09 - Marseille F5
WMRC 09 - Marseille F6
9.3.2. Round robin 2
9.3.2.1 Since the competitors are racing each other twice, they will choose one course each, which should both be announced in advance of the races to allow time for preperations. The competitors may choose from the following courses for RR2:
WMRC 09 - Pure F4
WMRC 09 - Pure F5
WMRC 09 - Pure F6
WMRC 09 - Napoli F4
WMRC 09 - Napoli F5
WMRC 09 - Napoli F6
WMRC 09 - Marseille F4
WMRC 09 - Marseille F5
WMRC 09 - Marseille F6
WMRC 09 - Valencia F4
WMRC 09 - Valencia F5
WMRC 09 - Valencia F6
WMRC 09 - Qingdao F4
WMRC 09 - Qingdao F5
WMRC 09 - Qingdao F6
9.3.3. Semi finals
9.3.3.1 Race 1 - Course: Napoli F6
9.3.3.2 Race 2 - Course: Napoli F5
9.3.3.3 Race 3 - Course: Valencia F4
9.3.3.4 Race 4 - Course: Napoli F4
9.3.3.5 Race 5 - Course: Valencia F5
9.3.3.6 Race 6 - Course: Valencia F6
9.3.3.7 Race 7 - Course: Choice of the competitor with port entry.
9.3.4. Finals
9.3.4.1 Race 1 - Course: Pure F4
9.3.4.2 Race 2 - Course: Marseille F6
9.3.4.3 Race 3 - Course: Marseille F5
9.3.4.4 Race 4 - Course: Marseille F4
9.3.4.5 Race 5 - Course: Pure F6
9.3.4.6 Race 6 - Course: Napoli F5
9.3.4.7 Race 7 - Course: Choice of the competitor with port entry.
9.4. It usually doesn't make a difference who is hosting the races, but a competitor may claim to host half of the races in RR1 and RR2, and the races he should enter from starboard in the knock-out rounds.
9.5. Spectators are permitted unless a competitor has a valid reason to deny. Between the start of prestart and the end of the race, there should be no comments at all by spectators on the race chat (not even "good wind" etc). Violation of this instruction may result in a hearing under rule 69. Other spectators in the race has a responsibility to contribute to stop such violation by promptly writing a polite short notice on the chat.
10. Reporting of results
10.1. All results has to be reported as a regular VSK Match race. The winner of each race should (as always) do this, and in the order they were raced, and right after a race session is complete. The only exception to this is if there is a pending protest in a race. In such case, other races should be reported without deleay, while the race with a protest should be reported, as soon there is a jury decision. PS! Remember to check the WMRC box when entering WMRC results on the submit page. Otherwise the result will not contribute at the WMRC scoreboard. Replays should be uploaded for all WMRC races.
11. Prizes
11.1. Puma is the main sponsor of WMRC 2009. There will be prizes for the 6 highest placed competitors.
1st prize: Puma Sunglasses, Puma Landyard, VOR Key Ring, Puma Sailing Towel, Puma Sailing Rain Hat.
2nd prize: Puma Sunglasses, Puma Landyard, VOR Key Ring, Puma Sailing Towel, Puma Sailing Rain Hat.
3rd prize: Puma Sunglasses, Puma Landyard, VOR Key Ring, Puma Sailing Towel.
4th prize: Puma Sunglasses, Puma Landyard, VOR Key Ring, Puma Sailing Towel.
5th prize: Puma Sunglasses, Puma Landyard, VOR Key Ring.
6th prize: Puma Sunglasses, Puma Landyard, VOR Key Ring.
SI Appendix A - List of competitors
The complete list is located at a seperate page.
SI Appendix B - VSK Adopted RRS
B 1. Modifications and addons to the RRS part 2
B 1.1. Rule 13.2 is changed to: After a boat passes directly downwind, she shall keep clear of other boats for 2 seconds.
B 1.2. The right-of-way boat or the boat entitled to room or mark-room does not have to follow ISAF rule 14 (avoiding contact).
B 1.3. The hailing instructions for rule 20 does not have to be followed. The boat that is going to tack at the obstruction should do this at the latest possible moment. It's the other boats responsibility to keep clear so that VSK doesn't hand out a penalty to the boat that is tacking.
B 1.4. The sails and boom of the boats should not be taken into account with regards to issues about keeping clear, overlap etc.
B 1.5. Information on the ISAF panel indicating status changes with regards to overlap or what tack a boat is on, should be regarded as a correct. However
if a boat is reported as clear ahead of the other, while there still is physical overlap, then rule 11 applies
if a boat subject to rule 17.1 gybes twice, her boom must pass the centerline of the boat in order to acquire luffing rights
B 1.6. Add to the definition of mark-room: A boat is sailing to the mark when she is heading 1 boat width to the side of the mark.
B 1.7. If the two competitors receive opposite information from the ISAF panel and are experiencing difference in their relative position, they will be judged based on what information they got locally. However a boat that is keeping clear locally, but not on the remote client, will be regarded as not keeping clear if the other boat is getting a disadvantage through a (possible) collision.
B 2. Other modifications and addons to the RRS
B 2.1. A boat may not use the Spinnaker before she has started.
B 2.2. A penalty turn is completed when it is both accepted by VSK and in accordance with the RRS. One of the two alone is not enough. However, this is not relevant if the start of the penalty turn is not recognized by VSK, or if it's mistakenly interupted.
B 2.3. If a competitor is disconnected from the game due to connection problems, please relaunch another race and/or enter the VSK Match chat to communicate with the other competitor. The new race should be setup in one of the three following ways, depending on what the situation was at the moment of the disconnection.
Do a complete new race from the beginning if it was not clear that one competitor had the advantage in the race.
If one competitor had the advantage (or had escaped disadvantage during prestart), restart the race and make sure the competitor that had the advantage is given a similar advantage in the new race.
Score the race as a win to the leading competitor if the margin was so big that it was unlikely the other competitor could have caught up.
B 2.4. If the competitors are experiencing huge lag temporarily or other unexpected things happens, and this has significant impact on the race, then it is suggested that the race is restarted and that the competitor who originally had the advantage is given a similar advantage.
B 2.5. RRS C7.3(a) does not apply.
B 2.6. The warning signal will be shown 6 minutes before the start and the preparatory signal will be shown 5 minutes before the start. There will be no attention signal. This changes RRS C3.1.
B 3. Protest procedure on the water
B 3.1. A competitor may hail for protest by writing "P" or "Protest" in the race chat as soon as possible after the incident. Alternatively "P Red" or "Protest Red" if the penalty qualifies for a red-flag penalty as described in RRS C6.5.b
B 3.2. The competitor who is protested on should as soon as reasonably possible reply with:
"Y" or "Yes" if he/she agree that he/she has broken a rule. A penalty should be added to his/her tally.
"N" or "No" if he/she disagree that he/she has broken a rule. A penalty should not be added to his/her tally, but the competitor who protested is entitled to file a post race protest to the WMRC jury. No reply is to be concidered as "No".
B 3.3. A penalty assigned by the VSK umpire is to be concidered correct unless there is a request to cancel the penalty from the competitor who got the penalty.
B 3.4. If a competitor who got a VSK penalty claims that it should not have been given any penalty in this situation, he/she should request a penalty cancellation. The request is the regular VSK feature, either by clicking on the penalty icon or pressing the key assigned for the feature. The VSK cancel feature does not work if the penalty removed a penalty from the opponent instead of adding one to the competitors tally, so in such a case a competitor has to write "C" or "Cancel" in the race chat instead.
B 3.5. If a competitor who got a VSK penalty claims that the penalty should have been given to the other competitor, he/she should request a penalty cancellation as described in B 3.4 followed by a protest call ("P"/"Protest") as described in B 3.1.
B 3.6. A competitor who receives a request to cancel a penalty should always cancel the penalty, regardless of whether he agrees or disagrees with the call. A penalty that is requested cancelled by writing "C" (ref B 3.4) should also be concidered cancelled by default.
B 3.7. A competitor who disagrees with a penalty cancellation, should write "P" or "Protest" as in B 3.1 right after the penalty has been cancelled.
B 3.8. competitors who deliberately break a rule, or get a big advantage by failing to keep clear, may be punished with extra penalties in addition to the regular penalty. An example of such a maneuver is a boat ramming down the starting line in order to sacrifice a penalty instead of being pushed over the line. The protesting competitor should write "PX" or "Protest extra"; if he is claiming that the incident is classifying under this rule. The protested competitor should respond as in B 3.2.
B 3.9. Penalties given by VSK and penalties accepted volunteerly (with a "Y"/"Yes" as in B 3.2) or cancelled by "C", should be summarized. If possible, the VSK pen tally should be manipulated in order to allow the VSK tally to represent the correct tally. Examples on how to do this is typically by cancelling a penalty if there are too many penalties, or to deliberatly hit a mark to add a penalty to the tally.
B 3.10. When an incident occures just before the finish line, if neither the protesting or the protested competitor has time to follow the protest communication procedure before finishing, the protest may still be valid.
B 4. Protest procedure off the water
B 4.1. If a competitor on the water is protesting, and the accused competitor does not agree with the protest, then the competitor may file an official protest to the WMRC jury. But first make a serious effort of solving the case without involving the jury. If the competitor still wants to file a protest, make sure the formalities are right:
B 4.2. Take a screenshot right after the response "No" (or lack of response) from the opponent. Install grabclipsave or similar software, to be able to make efficient screenshots during a race.
B 4.3. Both competitors should as soon as possible send their replays, screenshots and descriptions of the case to protest-2009@vsk-match.com with a copy to the other competitor. Remember to point out in the mail exactly at what time in the replay the situation occurred, and also what race in the series the protest is regarding.
B 4.4. The remaining of the series should be sailed, and results submitted, while waiting for the Jury decision.
B 4.5. The protest will not be evaluated by the Jury if the outcome of the protest won't change the winner of the race series
B 4.6. If the Jury finds that only one of the competitors was breaking a rule at the incident, and no penalty turns were added to her tally, then she will be disquallified from the race. What happened later in the race is irrelevant. Ex: A competitor can not free her self from a protest later in the race if she did not initially confirm that she added a penalty to her tally right after the protest.
B 4.7. There are no appeal options.
B 4.8. Jury decisions will be presented on the notice board in the forum, except for cases that were so obvious that they should not have reached the jury room in the first place.
B 4.9. Protests against the race committee regarding skippers promoted to a following round, must be filed within 12:00 CET/CEST (noon) on the first day of the new round.
Changes:
01.11.2009: Changed B1.1
01.11.2009: Added to B1.5. Moved one sentence to B1.7
01.11.2009: Created B1.7
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