http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=510_1344196881
try not to cry
Hysterical....
I was also laughing because the announcer didn't realize that all of the boats were jockeying for position for the race start. You see, there's an imaginary line between the committee boats. If you cross the line before the horn blows, you must tack around cross back over the line and restart. The goal is to have perfect timing, not only crossing first, but getting a long enough run to cross with the greatest speed. So, the boats will be milling about, attempting to get the best position for a fast start. If you could see what was going on, you'd see each sailor luffing the sail until about 30 seconds before the start horn. At that point, they will haul in the sail and accelerate towards the line. Do that too soon and you'll have to ease off or turn more parallel to the start line. The boats getting the slower start may "pinch in" on the wind a bit more (sailing closer to the wind), at the risk of a varying gust "rounding them up", inducing an unwanted jibe. That usually leads to collisions in such a crowd... You should notice that the chaos quickly settled into a nice, even line of boats at the horn. No big advantage was seen at the start, with no more than a 1/4 boat length advantage for the leaders. That can evaporate with the slightest shift in the wind, and the wind can actually vary across the width of the formation of boats. Boats to the windward side usually have an advantage in close racing, not being "covered" by another racer's sail (effectively taking wind off of your sail). At the race start, you may have noticed several boats jammed together at the far end of the line... Each one wants to be the closest to the wind. However, if such maneuvering prevents a good run at the start line, any advantage will be offset completely. Add to that, very complex rules...
Racing sail boats of any size is fun. I've raced various boats from sailing dingies through a Pearson 27, a C&C 34 and a 43' J/133. It's been about 15 years since we last competed (sold the boat), but it was alway fun.
