The bar for organising & racing at the 2012 kite nationals rose about 500% in 1 day with the yachting Australia officals at the comp. Everyone racing/ admin at end of racing series had learned alot about the new era of kite racing. Protests are about making it fair for all racers and take way the practice of making up rules on the day. The 2 x race's abondoned in series were a result of -
( As per sailing rules) "3. A significant number of competitors were disadvantaged due to the lack of an 8am briefing, lack of appropriate official notices and signals to inform them of the 10am start time and were unable to make the starting area in time for both races 1 & 2."
Nothing tragic here " just comon sense". Winning because of a bit of luck on day has gone out the door.
( As per sailing rules) Protests are lodged up to 1/2 hour after last race of day - so no holding up the fleet in races here. Lodged - Verb: 1.Present (a complaint, appeal, claim, etc.) formally to the proper authorities: "he lodged an appeal".
If you want to race at professional organised events in the future you MUST know - the sailing rules, stay 100% informed as race start info changes during day, rig correctly and race within these rules and you will never get a protest. Every one of the 25 racer's at 2012 Nationals "LOVED" the new racing rules & development of sport with yachting Australia.
P.S The best part of the whole event was the vibe amongst the racing crew, very friendly, lots of sharing notes on equiment & riding tech, and all were 100% serious about racing hard & winning race's. We all saw the latest 2012 race boards, kites and racing set-ups and learned heaps.