Summer 2006 SLSF Cup

We received protests for three incidents which occurred during Challenger Act 4, which ran from 12.00-14.24 SLT on Saturday, 5 August 2006. Pertinent exerpts from the Protocol and Instructions to Racers follow.

Race Director Oliphant Ming designates and manages the neutral Race Committee, of which the Protest Committee is a subset. The Protest Committee retains autonomy in its rulings and may disagree with the Race Director's interpretations. The Protest Committee consists of Primary Jurors Geoff Gavaskar, Eloise Pasteur, and Static Sprocket, along with Alternate Juror Pacifien Massiel. Rulings are determined by 2/3 majority of available jurors, however all four may confer on their rulings.



DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND JURISDICTION
Any protests not resolved on the water between racers may be filed with the Race Committee after the day's events have concluded, no sooner. Protests must be filed within four hours of a regatta's end, with all team members for the disputed Challenger given notice via IM within thirty minutes of the regatta's end. All protests which do not affect series standings will be dismissed.

Protests may only be filed by an injured party against a fouling boat. The Race Commitee has the sole authority to enforce missed marks, spinnaker usage, kedging, race wind, crew, or Class Rule violations, under penalty of disqualification if not redressed by an appropriate penalty turn on the course.

All other related disputes not governed by the SLSF Cup Deed of Gift shall be subject to the sole authority of the SLSF Cup Committee.

SLSF CUP SERIES RULES
All racers should review the Terms of Challenge, Protocol, and Class Rule prior to sailing. SLSF Cup series regattas operate under current International Sailing Federation Racing Rules of Sailing, with key amendments including:

*Boats which moor after the start horn, intentionally or unintentionally, are permitted to to finish any particular race only if they retain the race wind, otherwise they must retire.
*Kedging, via edit or drag, is not permitted. The penalty is equivalent to colliding with a marker, one 360-degree turn.
*Any racers finishing more than 100% after the time of an immediately preceding legal finish in the same race must retire, at which point their score will be recorded as DNF and the five-minute warning will be announced for the next race.
*For purposes of right-of-way rulings, "damage" shall only consist of incidents which fuse prims, eject crew, lose the race wind, disrupt physics continuity, or impair the functionality of a boat's script sufficiently to require an object reset.

INCIDENT 1 - SYC PROTESTS VYC, VYC PROTESTS SYC
SYC CREW - Skipper Faykin Odets, Tactician Drift Monde
VYC CREW - Skipper Oliphant Ming, Tactician Pixeleen Mistral

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BEGIN PROTEST FORM
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EVENT: Challenger Act 4 RACE NUMBER: 2

PROTESTING TEAM: SYC
PROTESTED TEAM: VYC

LOCATION OF INCIDENT ON COURSE: Hotdog Mark
RULES ALLEGED TO HAVE BEEN BROKEN: 11

DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT: SYC was leeward of VYC when boats interpenetrated. The photo of the incident clearly shows that boats were overlapped, and that SYC was leeward of VYC at the time of contact.
ATTACH DIAGRAM:
ATTACH HAIL LOG:
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END PROTEST FORM
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BEGIN PROTEST FORM
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EVENT: Challenger Act 4 RACE NUMBER: 2

PROTESTING TEAM: VYC
PROTESTED TEAM: SYC

LOCATION OF INCIDENT ON COURSE: Approaching the Hotdog Mark
RULES ALLEGED TO HAVE BEEN BROKEN:
1) Overtaking yacht shall keep clear. (Rule 12)
2) Editing boats on the course requires a penalty turn. (Race Instructions: Kedging, via edit or drag, is not permitted. The penalty is equivalent to colliding with a marker, one 360-degree turn.)
3) Damage to VYCs boat. (Race Instructions: For purposes of right-of-way rulings, "damage" shall only consist of incidents which fuse prims, eject crew, lose the race wind, disrupt physics continuity, or impair the functionality of a boat's script sufficiently to require an object reset.)

DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT: VYC had been ahead (but not very far ahead) of SYC for the entire leg and was approaching the hot dog mark. SYC was attempting to pass but drove over the transom of VYC's boat. There was no overlap before SYC drove into VYC, nor did SYC hail VYC before the collision. The collision fused the two boats and they ended up frozen. I took a picture immediately after the collision.

The collision damaged VYC's boat to the point that she was unable to move, and we spent out the rest of the race attempting to get the boat to sail again until the race commitee called time. Immediately after the boats collided VYC notified SYC of its protest and asked them to retire and lower their sails. After a while, SYC claimed that that we fouled them. SYC then edited their boat up into the sky, and down underwater. We again notified them that that was a foul, but they did not asckowledge this nor did they take any penalty turns. I asked them many times if they were going to retire from the race, so SYC was well aware of what this protest was about.

VYC was unable to hail SYC to keep clear, because they suddenly drove into us. They had been close behind us the entire leg, and I (PIxeleen Mistral) could see their mast/sail frequently, so they clearly knew exactly where we were, and did not exercise good seamanship by leaving room when attempting to pass. The were no hails from SYC before the collision, so there was nothing we could do as the boat that was ahead when they drove into our stern.

Because VYC's boat was irrreperably damaged, we ask the race committee to both DSQ SYC and give us the average of our other finishes in this event so that we are not unfairly penalized by SYCs actions.
ATTACH DIAGRAM:
ATTACH HAIL LOG: No hail log available. We had to relog after the Race Committee told us that our time was up.

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END PROTEST FORM
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SUMMARY JUDGEMENT
SYC is disqualified from the race. VYC is awarded redress.

INCIDENT 2 - SYC PROTESTS VYC, VYC DEFENDS
SYC CREW - Skipper Faykin Odets, Tactician Drift Monde
VYC CREw - Skipper Oliphant Ming, Tactician Pixeleen Mistral

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BEGIN PROTEST FORM
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EVENT: Challenger Act 4 RACE NUMBER: 4

PROTESTING TEAM: SYC
PROTESTED TEAM: VYC

LOCATION OF INCIDENT ON COURSE: Beat windward after the Start
RULES ALLEGED TO HAVE BEEN BROKEN: 10

DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT: VYC tacked to port while SYC was on a starboard tack, causing our boats to collide.
ATTACH DIAGRAM: Photo taken after the contact.
ATTACH HAIL LOG:
[13:46] Drift Monde: SH SYC Says "PROTEST"
[13:47] Drift Monde: SH SYC Says "PROTEST"
[13:47] Drift Monde: Oli
[13:47] Drift Monde: SH SYC Says "PROTEST"
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END PROTEST FORM
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BEGIN DEFENSE
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1) Inadequate notification.

[14:50] Faykin Odets: I hereby formaly notify you that SYC will be protesting VYC for 3 seperate incidents on the water... 2 in race 4 1 in race 2

Does not clearly state what alleged fouls took place infringing on the rights of VYC to mount a defense. On this basis alone, the protests should be denied.

After consulting with the rest of VYC, we were unable to guess what Faykin was referring to, and I asked for clarification.

[14:58] Pixeleen Mistral: can you outline what each of the various protest you are filing are about?
[14:58] Pixeleen Mistral: we are confused

We did not get any response from SYC until long AFTER the notification period, when Drifte Monde dropped a folder on us at 3:17 PM SLT, 27 minutes after the initial notification.

2) The detail we recieved from Drifte Monde nearly 30 minutes after the formal notification does not establish a foul had occurred, nor does it establish anything
other than Drifte Monde saying protest several times.

VYC attempted to tack, saw that they would not clear SYC, and turned back fully to port tack with no contact occuring. It was a near miss, however.
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END DEFENSE
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SUMMARY JUDGEMENT
SYC's protest is dismissed.

INCIDENT 3 - SYC PROTESTS VYC, VYC DEFENDS
SYC CREW - Skipper Faykin Odets, Tactician Drift Monde
VYC CREW - Skipper Oliphant Ming, Tactician Pixeleen Mistral

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BEGIN PROTEST FORM
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EVENT: Challenger Act 4 RACE NUMBER: 4

PROTESTING TEAM: SYC
PROTESTED TEAM: VYC

LOCATION OF INCIDENT ON COURSE: Port leg after Start, before first bouy.
RULES ALLEGED TO HAVE BEEN BROKEN: 11

DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT: SYC was leeward of VYC when VYC veered into SYC, forcing SYC off line.
ATTACH DIAGRAM: Snapshot taken after SYC protested, but clearly shows SYC leeward of VYC. Protest occured long before bouy was close.
ATTACH HAIL LOG:
[13:46] Drift Monde: SH SYC Says "PROTEST"
[13:47] Drift Monde: SH SYC Says "PROTEST"
[13:47] Drift Monde: Oli
[13:47] Drift Monde: SH SYC Says "PROTEST"
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END PROTEST FORM
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BEGIN DEFENSE
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1) Inadequate notification.

[14:50] Faykin Odets: I hereby formaly notify you that SYC will be protesting VYC for 3 seperate incidents on the water... 2 in race 4 1 in race 2

Does not clearly state what alleged fouls took place, infringing on the rights of VYC to mount a defense. On this basis alone, the protests should be denied.

After consulting with the rest of VYC, we were unable to guess what Faykin was referring to, and I asked for clarification.

[14:58] Pixeleen Mistral: can you outline what each of the various protest you are filing are about?
[14:58] Pixeleen Mistral: we are confused

We did not get any response from SYC until long AFTER the notification period, when Drifte Monde dropped a folder on us at 3:17 PM SLT, 27 minutes after notification.

2) The detail we recieved from Drifte Monde nearly 30 minutes after the formal notification does not establish a foul had occurred, nor does it establish anything
other than Drifte Monde saying Protest several times.

During the race, it was impossible to know what Drifte Monde was talking about on the course, since she did not say anything other than "Protest" several times. Failing to give the other boat an indication of what the Protest was about during the race compromises the other boat's ability to decide whether to accept the Protest or not, and since we did not see any foul, nor have any indication of what Drife was talking about, we ignored this.

Additionally, SYC's snapshot shows no evidence of a foul.
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END DEFENSE
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SUMMARY JUDGEMENT
VYC is disqualified from the race.

Thank you, Myrrh!

Not only is this a much needed insight into the process for the challengers, this is a powerful teaching aid on ROW. More commentary like this will improve our sailors and improve our protests.

I know that took a while to post. It is greatly appreciated.

Pending the resolution of ongoing investigation into allegations of gross misconduct, the Summer 2006 Second Life Sailing Federation Cup series is rescheduled as follows:

9 September - Challenger Act 6
16-17 September - Challenger Cup
23-24 September - SLSF Cup

Details forthcoming.

I understand now that larger forces are at work but I have a question related to the protests of the most recent regatta and the lengthy explanation of them above:

If the Act is/was to be abandoned, why go to the trouble of all that went into the above posting?

The Protest Committee rulings posted above are from Challenger Act 4, not Act 5. The Challengers involved requested that they be made public as a learning tool for understanding and anticipating future decisions.

The delay in their publication is as much my own fault as anyone's - I wanted to confirm first that all the Jurors consented to general publication of their deliberations as a standard procedure, to ensure impartiality in any future deliberations. I apologise for the lack of timeliness.

Ah, ok. My apologies for not reading carefully enough....

I've tried to keep all my postings within this thread strictly by-the-book and impartial, but this post is me speaking, off-the-record, because I've spent hours working on a personal reply since Saturday afternoon and if I don't force myself to just shove something out right now, it'll be far beyond timely before I'm able to finish composing it.

Of course I'm very sorry for everyone who felt hurt by Saturday's regatta. The decision to abandon wasn't mine alone - in fact, I was ardently opposed to the notion - but in the end I came around to agree that it was our best course of action, so I do take responsibility for it. And I stand by the decision.

We knew at the time that it would hurt a lot of people; we anticipated this very reaction. It was an exceedingly difficult call to make. I consider everyone involved in this series my friends, and to upset friends is a bitter pill indeed. But as Al Kaiser has recently reminded me, nobody ever said leadership is an easy thing - sometimes we have to make hard choices, and this was one of them.

At the first Challenger Act, we were tasked with setting a ground rule for abandonment. These decisions are always per the SLSF Cup Committee's discretion, so there's a bit of wiggle room when we think it'll be to the series' overall benefit, such as our taking the highly unprecedented step of rectifying MBYC's finish time in the second Challenger Act to equate a perfect start and unchallenged solo run. Our ground rule, however, has been that any race compromised by griefers to the point that a Challenger is unable to finish will be abandoned. Similarly, any regatta in which over half the races are abandoned is subject to abandoment as a whole.

Saturday we had griefing problems, everyone knows that. At first we'd hoped that by squeezing in a seventh race we'd still score a fair six, but then as the regatta developed our target number of fair races slowly diminished, as more and more races were unexpectedly compromised to the point that a Challenger couldn't finish. After the fourth race, one Challenger, upon hearing our tentative plan for dealing with the day's irregularities, was understandably upset as they hadn't sailed every race to their fullest and didn't think it fair that their earlier, stronger races would be thrown out. In truth, our contingencies were a moving target addressing changing circumstances - it wasn't until SYC was orbited in the final race that we knew for certain that over half the day's races would have to be abandoned.

Still, we'd hoped to have enough good results buried in all those races to put together an equitable reflection of the competitors' performances of the day. Sadly, despite examining every possible scoring contingency, there was really no way to fairly reward one competitor's performance without unfairly punishing another for circumstances beyond their control. Just giving every competitor four throwouts, our other recourse, bordered on a ludicrous interpretation of impartiality, as in the end it was totally unreflective of the Challengers' performances on a field amongst one another, more a reflection of the dumb luck of the day's circumstances than anything else.

So, in the end, we went with the ground rule we'd set way back at the first regatta. It was the only way to keep the series standings a fair and accurate reflection of the Challengers' comparative performance.

That's one issue. The other is the perceived opacity of the SLSF Cup Committee. While it's wonderful that the sailing community has grown by such leaps and bounds since the SLSF Cup's genesis, that also means that a good number of this series' participants weren't here for its initial organisation and thus mightn't be familiar with its ground rules. I don't have time to go into much detail, but to say that this series was born in an atmosphere of contention, exclusion, and deeply rooted animosity is an understatement. Thus was made the decision to create the SLSF Cup as an autonomous institution which would stand clear of the community's petty grievances, and in which no single party would have the authority to compromise its neutrality, inclusiveness, nor fairness.

The SLSF Cup Committee is selected on a seasonal basis, consisting of one nominee each from the Defender, Challenger of Record, and general SLSF community at-large, all of which must be ratified in a general SLSF meeting open to additional nominees. This first season, Oliphant Ming and Al Kaiser shared the first two slots in a de-facto capacity, and I, the third.

Gosh, I wish I could type more, but my lunch break's over. I just want everyone to understand that our driving factor all along has been fairness across the fleet as a whole. Sometimes that requires making ourselves the most-conspicous target for inevitiable resentment when our hand is forced to moderate mutually-exclusive concerns, in order to avoid the series being torn apart by the sort of petty rivalries which have the killed the SLSF's historical attempts at a fleet narrative so many times before.

I'm sorry to everyone who's been frustrated and hurt by our growing pains. I stand by our efforts, though, and I honestly believe that perserverance amongst everyone involved in this series will build something far stronger than any individual's efforts, as we learn and evolve along the way. My efforts this summer have never been about next month's SLSF Cup winner, but rather setting the stage to see what you guys can do with the second SLSF Cup season. I want a chance to sail competively and have some fun, myself, next year!

My problem is that of consistency of rules application.

<quote>Our ground rule, however, has been that any race compromised by griefers to the point that a Challenger is unable to finish will be abandoned. Similarly, any regatta in which over half the races are abandoned is subject to abandonment as a whole.</quote>

So, now I'm to understand that our persistence to finish griefed races in ANWR 1 and Hollywood is a reason for penalty? I fail to understand how this creates honest and fair competition. Next time someone has a poor race, they're going to have someone conveniently blast them into the stratosphere.

Races in Act 2 in Hollywood were beset by management problems and were not abandoned. Yes, I benefited from one adjustment but to be banned from the sim at the three minute mark is not conducive to a fair and impartial regatta. Act 2 was a complete farce but it was not thrown out. I was told, essentially: Tough. Sorry. Even fellow competitors remarked how adverse our circumstances were.

Race courses in two acts now have been altered mid-regatta with nothing more than a shout. There was no explanation, no justification, no real notification even, other than that shout. Both shortened courses directly penalized my team as any reasoned study of the results will show. Races were added, again without notification, in Act 5.

Several racers have questioned, in conversations with me, the fairness of having sitting racers on the Protest and Cup committees. We wonder what will happen if we protest a member of the Committee? This happened in Act 2 but an act of grief negated the proceedings. I understand that the adjustments are moving targets in response to changing circumstances. Fine, but tell all the crews equally and with reasons for the changes. Tell us how scoring will be affected by a decision to add a seventh race. Are you dropping two? Scoring six? And perhaps this decision can be made <i>before</i> race six?

Yes, I'm upset about Saturday's abandonment. Upset to the point of calling a team meeting to discuss our future participation in the series. There <i>is the appearance</i> that we are being unfairly dealt with. I understand the races were unfair to some participants last Saturday. Circumstances were unfair to us in prior Acts.

The Cup has become less about excellence in sailing than it is about having the right connections and being in the right place at the right time. As it stands, I can't see how winning the Cup will be indicative in any way of superior sailing.

You can model a Cup series after RL sailing with RL rules all you want. If you fail to add in strictly defined procedures for virtual communication and grief adjudication, then we're wasting our time. Given the energy, time and stress that this event is consuming, these types of decisions and this lack of consistency cause me to reevaluate my participation. I have better things to do with my Saturdays.

...well, i unquestionably have better ways to spend my time - you guys are on your own, again...

In RL, when that sort of thing happens (a member of the commitee is protested), they recuse themselves in the interests of fiarness. In the protests from act 4, Oliphant was involved in all the protests and recused himself from the protest process, so we are doing that in SL, too.

In the RL club sailing I used to do, yacht clubs had enough sailors and classes of sailboats that it was possible to have protests heard by people in other classes, to minimize the appearance of conflict of interest. Given the size of the sailing communitee in SL that believes in normal racing rules, we do not usually have that luxury here... yet.

Trust me, running events with the possibillity of protests when you are the event organizer/participant is *interesting* since you do not want to burn out the small pool of disinterested and right of way knowledgable SL sailors. For an event organizer keeping things moving and making the event as fair as possible is vital, but in every decision there are going to be winners and losers. I've been living this since last december, and it really cramps one's ability to sail tactically. One of the biggest jokes on me is that as soon as I got VYC going, I could not sail agressively very often, since I was nearly always acting as the one-woman race committee and protest committee.

Its hard to appreciate the pressure of this sort of thing until you get some unhappy racers and an event that needs a decision to move forward. I think about the best anyone can ask for at the moment is that the race and protest committees are timely and transparent about explaining why and how they decide things. The worst thing is to get hung up with an unresolved situation indefinately. I remember a formal protest I filed in Hollywood that was never ruled on, but beaten to death in the forums in a sort of slow motion mob rule, and the bad feeling from that incident persists to this day.

So, I may not always agree with the decisions that are made, but if I know why they were made, and there is a clear rule of law and established justice system I can live with it. Running competitive events is a lot harder than you would think... I'd give the event organizers the benefit of the doubt unless you are prepared to run the same sort of events yourself. But beware, when you start running events, the joke is usually on you - that is sure how it worked out for me. LOL.

I'm most appreciative of all the work that's gone into the Cup, most notably from Myrrh since she's the "face" of the Cup at this point. I completely understand the position Myrrh is in and I certainly don't want to generate ill-will with my comments. I don't want anyone to think that I'm ungrateful or just bitching for the sake of bitching. I want to see the Cup be something that's worth fighting for, something that a club will be damned proud to display in their grandiose trophy case. I just don't think we're doing that with the way this has gone so far. As Pix says, it's a small show running things, but when those few don't have transparency or something akin to accountability, then anything amiss is going to be perceived as "rigging" or whatnot. I'm simply stating what I think and, evidently, I had too much time to do that on my recent road trip.

This two week pause is a good thing. Maybe we can set upon a path that will allow us to salvage something from this series and move forward. There is a committed set of racers and clubs now that have a vested interest in the decisions that are being made. Hopefully, the thoughts that are being debated can be brought up within the official team structure and some consensus can be reached. We're all talking amongst ourselves about what's happened, what we're happy with and what we're not. Perhaps the Cup committee can draw upon some of the energy and ideas that are being debated around drinks at the clubs to effectively move this forward.

First of all... there are no SLSF Cup racers on the protest committee.

Second of all... I like how two yacht clubs have threatened to quit, one had to stop racing because they lost their team leader, another never could start racing because they lost everyone but the team leader, and then the one that hasn't threatened to do anything fell under a cloud of disqualification rumors anyway.

Third of all is probably reserved for an "I told you so" while I kick Myrrh while she's down and rub salt into the bitter, festering wound that is the SLSF Cup.

Fourth of all, I think I'll ramble on with no point in particular... SYC and VYC have a long tradition of running regattas with their own unique flair. MBYC looks to be adding their own style to the regatta possibilities. As far as I know, anyone subscribed to those groups or SLSF proper will get the call to sail at the designated times. This worked well enough for months.

I remember at the start of the summer, there was a very slight movement by some sailors to break away from the standard choices. There had to be more to it than SYC and VYC. Not to say they suck, it's just that they couldn't possibly be covering every sailing angle, could they? There was room for more ways, more sailors, more yacht clubs?

I like how Myrrh thought the SLSF Cup was set up in a way to foster more yacht clubs in the overall sailing community -- to encourage people to sail more and differently. I really hated the format she came up with for reasons I cannot for the life of me explain to her, though I've tried very hard. But the intention was good.

What we have are people convinced that rival yacht clubs are actively trying to disrupt the series, people unhappy with the organization of the series, people who were initially excited enough to organize the series being told they can organize it, but they can't play... I think about lessons learned long ago.

1. Never get SYC and VYC together. I knew that from SLSF Cup Version 1.0. There's competition... and then there's actual hatred of one another. Like, a lot.

2. Second Life can only support small visions, not grand. You can't even get more than 40 people in a sim and like hell you can get more than six physical boats roaming around anymore without serious lag.

3. People who don't like or enjoy how it's being done can do it themselves. I learned this when Pixeleen had me run the line for VYC for awhile, when I'm sure she was greatly relieved not to calculate the results or listen to the complaints because scores weren't coming out fast enough or the course sucked for whatever reason. I remember the discussions with fellow sailors at the time that we really needed to show people that setting up and using an SLSF line isn't scary and they really can do it themselves, no permission needed by some mysterious greater force.

4. Lack of planning gets complaints. So does overplanning. Trying to change your planning in mid-event is like you are actively going out of your way to kill someone's puppy.

And I wonder how the simple act of winning a race somehow became less simply because there was a trophy involved. Hell, I won plenty of times at VYC and all I ever got was the chance to write this sentence telling you about it. Somehow being told a race was abandoned in the overall scheme of things became such a huge slap in the face, you just know the Man was trying to keep you down. Nevermind that you still won the race and the results were still posted.

I say that because the challenger acts were nothing more than fleet racing. All the scoring ever did was tell you who you were racing in the challenger cup for a match race. It was supposed to seed the four top teams, but only four teams ended up making it to this Cup. Myrrh's grand vision thought that there might be more than four teams the next time around, but eh, next time will be a different beast.

Everyone, step back. Know that all involved went in to have fun. Hold no ill will for those who took a concept as far as they could and discovered that concepts let loose upon a varied community will splinter into ten different ideas of what it should be. Sometimes the best of intentions fall victim to simple human nature. Learn what you can from your SLSF Cup experiences. Learn to do better, act better, feel better. And keep sailing. That's what it was supposed to be about.

The bad blood had nothing to do with the fact that the initial ruling was abadoned. It had everything to do with your consistent attitude. If I recall this protest occured when you protested a last place boat and when you didn't get your way took it to the forum and Pixelized the community, embarassed the skipper horribly and started the bad blood that you will not let die. People DID leave SL sailing over that incident and the community suffered. I guess I am not surprised after year of healing that you are trying drag that up again. Some people want to work together and build up a community. Some want to be confrontational and divide.

Having been mug on the spot for race 1 which was abandoned, and on the protest committee for whichever act it was that generated the long judgement post, I'd just like to take this moment to say that I'm not affliated to any of the yacht clubs, and I haven't raced in SL for several months. Hmm, last time was probably a VYC event just after the Tako 3 came out, but it might have been one at Hollywood.

I am, to some extent responsible for trying to persuade Myrrh et al to set a "rule" for throwing out an act.

In some respects I had it easy. There was no race which wasn't griefed somehow as far as I can tell. In some, since I stayed by the start line, the racers reported it.... and because there were close sailors there tended to be lots of witnesses (in one race a series of them as the boats got orbited one after another in a nice line).

The decision to abandon that act was relatively easy. The first 4 races were all affected. In some many of the racers were affected, but in every one at least one racer was affected. I took the decision to abandon that regatta, and memory says that was met with support from all the crews at the time. That might not be right, but it's how I remember it. At the time there were no rules for abandonning a regatta. I took a unilateral decision (however widely supported), and recommended to the cup committee that a rule be put in. We also considered trying to run an extra race or two to get a number that would make a good regatta without griefers interfering.

To be honest I don't care what the decision is about the what the rules are for abaddoning, I just wanted the next person to know what the terms were. The racers knowing would also be a good idea.

Regattas get abandonned IRL. One of the Louis Vitton ones a while ago had a string of days cancelled for no wind for example, to the point they were at the point of abandonning the whole thing. Weather in SL is easier to control. People with orbiters are rather less common IRL (I have seen a race postponed for a mine on the course though) but are an SL hazard that is in many places outside the control of the race organisers so it's the best analogy I can think of.

If you do it again - assuming anyone's brave enough...

Discuss how to cope with the fact that griefers will happen first. One option - allow time for 8 races, hope to run 6. If 4+ get griefed throw it out. Work out how to determine /control for racers "griefing" themselves... It's sad it has to be done, but it does.

I don't think there are easy answers to this btw. But the organisers and the rest of you need to sort it out so you all know what the situation is next time around... Sadly, unless you race in private sims (and avoid *those* potential problems) for all the rounds, rules for coping with griefers will become part of the SL variants to the standard rules.

Those who wish to form their own opinions can read about it starting here
/110/13/51075/12.html

We all learned a lot from that episode.

I figure people might be wondering about the state of the SLSF Cup at the moment.

For a huge list of reasons that slowly built over the weeks to a breaking point, Myrrh Massiel decided it best to leave the SLSF Cup Committee. However, she did express interest in seeing the SLSF Cup sputter to some conclusion (and win the Cup in the name of the Kazenojin Seiringu), if anyone would like to take her place on the committee and finish the last couple days of races.

I direct people to this thread here, which posts the date for an upcoming SLSF meeting that anyone is welcome to attend. One of the proposed items for discussion is replacing members of the committee.

Seeing as one of the opportunities in finishing the Cup was the rental of four full-load sims from the Lindens to be terraformed and used any way the SLSF saw fit (the match races), I thought it would be worthwhile to keep the Cup going. Yes, even as I also clamor for the Cup's destruction. I admit to being inconsistent.

fwiw, from the 'outside', myrrh certainly has my sympathy and understanding. it had obviously become a major source of pain and useless drama, and who the hell needs that crap. it is also worth saying that, among the small circle of folk i know, myrrh's motives and integrity were never questioned.

When I first conceived the idea of the SL Cup, one of my hopes was to bring in new sailors. Reading this forum shows that it worked. I see many names that I have never meet.

Of course, part of that is that I have been away for almost 2 months. I must apologize for that. For those of you who do not know, I have cancer. In early June, it flared up and knocked me out for a while. Well, yesterday I went to the doctor and I am i full remission again. So look for the dragon sail on the water again.

During this entire time I have followed the SL Cup via the forums and private e-mails with Myrrh. I have never been far away from my dream. I am very sorry that Myrrh has decided to step away from it, but now that I am healthy again I plan to step right in and continue it.

Rest assured that the Cup will run to its conclusion.

During this break there a few things that I would like to add.

One is to follow Eloise's excellent idea to implement some rules dealing with abandoned races.

Another is to revise the rule regarding who can sail. Flappy's team has been hit hard by RL and has shown that the rules may be too restrictive.

We also need to fill the open spot on the committee.

In order to make these changes and any other the community wish to see. I would like to have a meeting with the remaining committee members and representatives for each team. By the way, I do not abide with "bitch sessions" so leave them home. The past only serves as a teacher for the future. The meeting will be aimed at taking what we have experienced up till now and making improvements to move it into the future. I would like to suggest Sunday August 27 at 3:00PM SLT at the Nantucket Yacht Club. If the date and time are not convenient , please list some alternatives and I will see if I can get a consensus. I would really prefer everyone in attendance.

I still believe in the Cup and with some work, co-operation and creative thinking I think we can make it a premiere event in SL.

When I first conceived the idea of the SL Cup, one of my hopes was to bring in new sailors. Reading this forum shows that it worked. I see many names that I have never meet.

Of course, part of that is that I have been away for almost 2 months. I must apologize for that. For those of you who do not know, I have cancer. In early June, it flared up and knocked me out for a while. Well, yesterday I went to the doctor and I am i full remission again. So look for the dragon sail on the water again.

During this entire time I have followed the SL Cup via the forums and private e-mails with Myrrh. I have never been far away from my dream. I am very sorry that Myrrh has decided to step away from it, but now that I am healthy again I plan to step right in and continue it.

Rest assured that the Cup will run to its conclusion.

During this break there a few things that I would like to add.

One is to follow Eloise's excellent idea to implement some rules dealing with abandoned races.

Another is to revise the rule regarding who can sail. Flappy's team has been hit hard by RL and has shown that the rules may be too restrictive.

We also need to fill the open spot on the committee.

In order to make these changes and any other the community wish to see. I would like to have a meeting with the remaining committee members and representatives for each team. By the way, I do not abide with "bitch sessions" so leave them home. The past only serves as a teacher for the future. The meeting will be aimed at taking what we have experienced up till now and making improvements to move it into the future. I would like to suggest Sunday August 27 at 3:00PM SLT at the Nantucket Yacht Club. If the date and time are not convenient , please list some alternatives and I will see if I can get a consensus. I would really prefer everyone in attendance.

I still believe in the Cup and with some work, co-operation and creative thinking I think we can make it a premiere event in SL.

Al, take a look at this announcement. Saturday's SLSF meeting is an excellent opportunity for the community to nominate replacements for recently-vacated Summer 2006 SLSF Cup Committee slots, and finish out the SLSF's obligations for this season. While I personally am finished tilting at windmills for a while, I'll gladly support anyone else who wants to make a go of it - my working materials and advice are always at the Committee's disposal.

As someone that can understand more than most what pain can be had when you attempt to do a good thing only to be unfairly criticized, I, as you know from our many private conversations, sympathize with what you have had to go through both privately and publicly.

I must however ask one very important question. Do you intend to release the results of your investigation as to gross misconduct regarding the Cup? Anyone who knows you at all realizes that for YOU of all people to announce publicly that there is reason to suspect gross misconduct, there must be something very very wrong. Hopefully your departure from the committee will not also mean the end of your attempt to deal with the gross misconduct you have found.

One of the benefits of not being a part of any committee and being completely untrustworthy to keep my mouth shut...

Back in March, Al Kaiser posted about how keen an SL Cup series would be. Then in late April there was a meeting about it, where all SLSF members were invited to share their thoughts, particularly the organizers of the two major yacht clubs in existence at the time.

SYC offered to have the final races and the party at Hollywood. VYC thought if the SL Cup were to serve as an impartial series, that venues needed to either be unaffiliated or chosen by drawing. There was some debate about fleet racing versus match racing. Tempers flared. The SL Cup died. For a moment.

Some people had the idea that the only way they could get SYC and VYC to do anything together is if they didn't have to do it together alone. SYC vs. VYC was one thing. SYC vs. VYC vs. five other yacht clubs? That seemed doable.

So for this reason, Myrrh came up with an ambitious plan geared specifically to encourage the creation of more yacht clubs. Basically, to enter this series, you had to be sponsored by a yacht club. Well, that meant at the time there could be only two teams. But if you didn't get chosen for those two teams, then what? Well, create your own yacht club!

There was a catch to this ambitious plan. For it to work where the first plan failed, none of the yacht clubs could have a say in how the series was to be handled. They could offer to participate, offer their help in managing the races, but decisions were to be handled by an independent committee. In a way, you'd think this would make it more fun for the yacht clubs, as all they had to do was show up and sail.

First problem was getting a committee going, way back in May. See, Myrrh and Al thought the idea of an SLSF Cup was great and all, but they wanted to race in one, not organize it. Organizing it means your time, your money, and then you can't sit back and enjoy the fun. Only no one else was going to organize it, so... Myrrh and Al became the SLSF Cup Committee.

But wait, they also wanted to sail for the Cup. How to maintain some semblance of objectivity while playing the dual roles? Well, come up with the Deed of Gift! A very legal-reading document, it detailed just what authority the SLSF Cup Committee had, the rules and conduct the committee had to follow, and under what circumstances the SLSF Cup trophy could be awarded. I don't think I ever read the Deed of Gift in full, but I'm told it's very authoritative and binding.

There needed to be a third person on this committee, because everyone knows it's not its bestest if its not a trilogy. The first person I know who was asked was Kanker, which made me laugh and laugh and I would have bet everything in my account that he would say no. I don't know who else was asked, but I know Oli was asked for being a long-time SLSF participant (albeit only just returned from a very long hiatus from it), he knew his stuff about sailing, and he seemed outside the SYC/VYC rivalry.

There. That's how the SLSF Committee was formed.

Such controversies before the Cup even started...
1. The dates for each portion of the series.
I remember Myrrh saying that by requiring four members to a team, she had hoped to circumvent any real life obligations that would keep any one member from attending on any given weekend. It was supposed to be okay to be missing part of a team. It was supposed to be okay for any member of that team to be able to race in the name of their yacht club, not just rally behind their one supreme racer.

Yet some weren't happy with the dates chosen because... some members of the team might not be available on particular weekends. So much for four-member teams.

2. Choosing the venues.
Myrrh marked some pennies with the initials of each yacht club and threw it in a bag, rattled it all up, then had me pick the pennies out. As I happened to be in-world at the time I was doing this in real life, I also would type out each yacht club's name as I drew them out of a bag.

Of all people, Pixeleen was the witness to this. So she can attest to my reaction being "no one is going to believe this drawing was random." The order of venues? MBYC, FSYC, BSF, KS, SYC, VYC. (I direct you back to the beginning on where SL Cup version 1.0 failed) Myrrh even said this was why she did the drawing outside of a gathered crowd. Had this remained the order for the challenger acts, I'm still sure no one would have believed it was a random drawing.

The order of the venues changed in the end when Myrrh started testing the line at Mowry Bay and realized the course was uncharacteristically laggy, as was the course to be used at Flappy's.

Moving onwards...
In the beginning, I was supposed to be a supportive friend for Myrrh and help with the Cup. That died about thirty minutes before the first Challenger Act when I discovered that spectators were not allowed near the course. Not hovering in a balloon right over the start line, not even on the ANWR rig nearby. I think it was nixing on spectators on the rig that did it for me. In a way, I had a similar view as the griefers so-called stance on the issue (from the SL Herald article on the event) -- ANWR was public land and you couldn't really stop me from sitting on the rig if I wanted to.

I decided at that moment that if spectators were considered a hindrance in the SLSF Cup, it really wasn't a fun event for me.

Because of this, I wasn't around for the talk that was passed back and forth about the griefing situation, other than it was annoying for all and would make the SLSF Cup the biggest weekly chore if no solution could be found. Oh, and I got a good laugh at the races at SYC when an attempt to use the ban for unverified accounts ended up banning one of the competitors. Not laughing at the misfortune of the fellow, but laughing at just why I found an outright ban simply for being unverified was a joke in itself.

Oh, but I am aware of the debate on use of force by security. I know Myrrh was absolutely reluctant to allow any force, because she's generally a nonconfrontational individual in real life. I believe it was agreed by the Committee that after the second challenger act, if Myrrh's way still wasn't good enough, that they'd switch to aggressive force for the third challenger act. Also, the extensive promotion done for the SLSF Cup was reduced to a minimimum by this point, so as not to advertise to all the griefers of the grid where they can have their fun.

Thus do we get a situation like this:
Second Challenger Act, SYC venue --> griefed
Third Challenger Act, VYC venue --> not griefed

Depending on who you talk to, the griefing of the SLSF Cup was due to...
1. Random griefers, localizing on a spot where they saw many green dots.
2. Organized griefers, researching good targets and discovering the SLSF Cup.
3. SYC, because they're just petty.
4. VYC, because they're just petty.

Let's move on to Mowry Bay and the fourth challenger act, though... For the tale of Mowry Bay, you have to understand a few things about Myrrh. For all the hassle of the SLSF Cup, she was quite excited about three things. One, the creation of a very active yacht club outside of SYC and VYC. Two, the chance to race the best of SL's long-time racers. Three, the chance to see other racers improve dramatically over the course of the series.

By the fourth challenger act, organizing each regatta was becoming an easier task. Use of force proved the way to go to keep the griefers at bay. There were a couple of dependable folk to help run the line and the event. All is well, yeah? Well, no. Because by this time, all Myrrh's planning seemed to be going for naught. Did you know...
1. Some racers only want to know the windsetting so they can fine-tune their gestures for optimum sailing for that specific venue. In fact, gesture users are just cheaters. In fact, there might even be modified boats among the supposedly unmodifyable boats. (Gestures have long been used and accepted in SL sailing, and as far as I know, people have a set of certain sailing gestures they use for every race, regardless of venue.)
2. The protest committee consists of members also participating in the SLSF Cup, making protests potentially a conflict of interest? (Not true.)
3. The committee was making decisions at random, telling no one what secret thoughts go on in their minds.

After creating an SLSF Committee specifically to run outside the influence of any particular yacht club, it was now under criticism for running outside the influence of any particular yacht club... or perhaps people felt that wasn't the case with the committee members being competitors as well. The big debate became transparency of decisions.

According to Myrrh, the committee only really discussed three things in private anyway. The first was determining the rules for when a regatta had to be abandoned. (Detailed by Eloise in an earlier post.) The second was what to do about boats that crossed the line at what seemed early yet still were recorded by the line as having started. (Research of the scripts show it's a valid start.) And third was use of alts during the SLSF Cup for sailing practice. (Don't do it.)

The committee was designed not to be transparent. Decisions made were final and not up for review by the masses. Thought, I equated this to Protests Committees, who have equally final rulings, yet their reasonings are posted for all to read. This is where Myrrh's frustration level hit the fan, as she can't see where her reasonings were never posted. I suppose the biggest question would be "why not mention the races could be abandoned during the races?" I can only attribute this to the chaos of the series, because I know that I was aware that abandonment was a possibility going into the sixth or seventh race of the Fifth Challenger Act. I knew this from chatter going back and forth, but no one ever stopped to say "Listen up, this is what the current deal is and you need to pay attention!"

The Fourth Challenger Act saw the gathering of the protest committee, which consists of three people who really don't have any connection to the SLSF Committee or any of the competing yacht clubs. If any committee could be said to be truly impartial, it was that one. And, big surprise, they had to rule on a series of protests between SYC and VYC. With disqualifications for both teams on different races, the decisions were sure to upset them both.

The big controversy behind the scenes for the Fifth Challenger Act started with something I saw. After hearing how Faykin was orbited at the south buoy, I figured someone needed to be at the south buoy to check things out for the sixth race. I roamed around, seeing a few random unverifieds within 512 meters of the buoy. They'd teleport out after awhile, though. I saw the boats come around the buoy and leave again, no harm done.

I flew back to the start line, found out they were having a seventh race, then went back to the buoy. No one really around until... just as all four boats were coming to the south buoy. Suddenly an avatar pops up, positions himself below sea level, then promptly disappears as the boats round the mark. Turning my attention back to the buoy... I see only three heading back north. Because they're friended, I can see where Faykin and Drift are on the map, and the map shows they're not moving. So I messaged Faykin to ask if he'd been orbited, which he was.

Armed with a name and my witness testimony, an investigation started as to who this fellow is. He'd been seen by others during practice sessions, said to be a good sailor. Why show up at that buoy at that time and leave so suddenly? What I saw, however, will have no conclusion. There just isn't solid proof. And you don't drag someone's name through the mud without proof, because that's... well, mean. And seems wrong. The suspicion remains, however.

As for anything else to come from the investigation, that's in the hands of the remaining members of the SLSF Cup Committee to decide.

And now all I know is known by all. Except for that one last bit about what other things came to light from the investigation, because I figure they still need to make a call on that one.

Since it seems you were not around for the event you are providing commentary on let me give you some additonal information.

We had a Linden present at the Second Act who graciously agreed to take her saturday to be in Holywood to assist with potential greifing. It was her suggestion to me after the major griefing attack that we ban all unverifieds for the remainder of the regatta. Had you been there you would have heard me have an OPEN discussion with the participates and spectators about this option. I asked for opinions. The concensous was clear. skippers and participates said we should do it. Very tranparent discussion, decision reached by majority, including some folks who later criticized the decision based on a error made in the execution of the banning. So to begin with your opinion that the effort was a joke itself put you in opposition to the vast majorty of those present. Because of all the gripping and whinning that had already been taking place in general about the Cup there was no way in hell that i was going to make that decision myself. It WAS the will of those present. But we didnt have the luxury of your monday morning quaterbacking to criticize the decision.

The problem occured when a simple error in executing the ban took place which anyone who owns a sim will recognize. As sim owners Nber and I have the power to ban unverifieds. We do that by clicking a radio button to select one of three states: all avatars accepted; Those will payment records on file but not billed are excluded; and those with no payment record on file or billed are excluded. The group that SHOULD be banned was the third group. Unfortunately the second group got banned in one of the sims in the heat and stress of the moment. THIS is what caused the unfortunte banning. Which was corrected as soon as we discovered the error. I for one would have liked to see the committee NOT rule as the did on this. But this had nothing to do with SYC trying to target anyone which some innuendo has suggested. We apologized at the time and have explained this more than once. Yet snipping continues.

As to the title of your post "ALL" dirty laundry? Far from it. Lets hope the evidence the investigating commitee of Myrrh Massiel and Al Kaiser has gathered will come to light.

Heck, I take responsibility for that call. It was a bad call, we all realised that immediately and rectified the situation posthaste, but in the end I'm the one who was asked for final consent and, given that none of the other SLSF Cup Committee members were responsive to IMs requesting discussion at the time, I took the initiative of saying "Do it.", despite my own apprehension, in light of overwhelming and uncontroverted support amongst participants, staff, security, and Lindens present to ban unverified accounts.

We learned. We fixed it. We moved on. That's part of the process, and I don't think anyone's pointing fingers regarding the incident. But if anyone wants to point and laugh, if anyone still harbours a grudge, the buck stops here, on my shoulders and nobody else's.




Regarding the allegations of gross misconduct, their resolution and any public statement lies within the hands of the SLSF Cup Committee and the parties involved. I, personally, made the initial allegation against a known participant, and I chose not to do so publically. I no longer serve as one of the Committee Directors, nor do I hold any position of authority within the SLSF, so any public statement is not my call to make. I can assure you that the Committee takes all evidence of impropriety extremely seriously, and if they feel there is sufficient evidence for public censure, they will likely issue a statement as soon as investigative and administrative circumstances support such an action.

This post consists of three parts: A) An apology. B) My gratitude for the information from others and C) my three suggestions on what’s needed.

A) I am so sorry that I was the first to have started the avalanche in this forum which has resulted in Myrrh’s resignation and all this acrimony. I like to think of myself as a nice person but I admit to some very hot blood and I’m also known to not pull many punches when I’m hot. Anyway I feel horrible as to the outcome of what’s happened and I knew nothing of the history of the problems with the Cup.

B) this leads me to my gratitude for all the posts that have followed which has outlined the problems of organization such events in SL. Somewhere, this needs to be saved at the new website, if it happens, so that others can learn from the past.

C) Ok here is my suggestions which I realize I’m not asked to give or even that this is the appropriate forum for such but here they are anyway but this is based on the following observations –

99% of the sailors in SL (if not higher) love the sport and recreation of sailing and love the community of sailors. It’s just that everything in SL regarding decisions and communications takes longer, or seems to, than in real life. So any structure should be geared towards lessoning that hurdle. The mountain Myrrh had to climb each week needs to be lessened. And no one wants to be in perpetual committee session.

1) The greifing (and a source of most of our problems) is never going away. Greifing needs to be Managed as a chronic condition. A wholly separate sub committee should be in place with chat channel to coordinate a defense during race days. Griefing should be handled by a chairperson other than the one trying to run the race- a person who has authority to make decisions and give orders to hired security. The ad-hock method of concerned observers and the over busy race committee administrator is not working. To successfully “manage” the greifing problem will go a long way in solving a big portion of the SLSF Cup problems. Without greifers, I would venture to say Myrrh would not have resigned and the inevitable tension between clubs would be manageable.

2) The idea that the various yacht Clubs should be left out of the process because of the SYC vs. VYC problems doesn’t seem to work. Representatives from each club should comprise the Committee as this should be a representative democracy not a benevolent dictatorship. Communication to the clubs would become much more fluid and instant with representatives present. The problems of bickering is a failure of TIGHT parliamentary procedure on how decisions will be made and a time limit on discussion before a vote.


3) Communications on the course at race day needs to be improved. We should take tools from RL and have a physical Committee Boat on site during the races from which signals flags can be flown to announce important developments (the committee boat could be nothing more than a 1 prim platform elevated over the starting line with signal flags flying – or even pre-made billboards - Alternately the committee boat could be nothing more than the starting judge attaching a flagpole to his/her hand from which they fly various, pre-made flags from their inventory) If a racer has been griefed the race should have a flag flown so that all participants know the race is in question. If a Race is dismissed a flag should be flown. In Real Life if a racer is protesting they fly a red flag from their boat – this can’t be done in SL as attachments to the boats can’t be made, but the committee boat can be informed that a team is protesting and the committee boat should fly a flag to that affect.


4) Team Protests - The committee boat should have at least 1 judge to follow the lead boats and watch for problems. The judge should have an open empty notecard ready and upon hearing a team protest make a mental judgment, NOT UNLIKE A BASEBALL UMPIRE, as to what his/her call is regarding the protest, then make a note of such in the notecard. The decision of the judge on the scene at the time, should be given preferential weight at the protest committee meeting and baring any complications should be final. The committee should only be used as a veto (2/3 vote) if needed or as a backup if the judge did not see the protested event. Frivolous protests would therefore be slapped down hard and fast and keep the process rolling. Huge amounts of time would be saved.