SailJuice Blog

Was Lijia Xu unlucky to lose the gold at the Women’s Laser Radial Worlds last week, after her disqualification from the final race due to excessive kinetics? Or should the Chinese sailor count herself lucky to hang on to silver?

It depends on how you view kinetic infringements, I suppose. It wasn’t so long ago that Paige Railey fell foul of the system on two big occasions – racking up three RR42 penalties which up until recently was sufficient to see you disqualified from the whole regatta. Railey was booted out of the 2006 Worlds and then at the Rolex Miami OCR in early 2007. You could argue that Railey got what she deserved, if the American sailor was pushing the limits to such an extent when the penalty was so harsh.

But are pumping, ooching, or other forms… Read the rest