John, It seems to me that your argument is based on the fact that the sailor knows that he/she is over! It is impossible for a sailor to know exactly where they are relative to the starting line at the starting signal… Lets say you are sailing in a large fleet of 24 foot sloops. The starting line might be well over 1000 feet long. Are you going to be able to determine if you were over by 18 inches?! Almost every sailor has had a race in their life where they came of the line thinking, “holy cow, I’m launched, I must have been over.” Are you suggesting they should retire or restart immediately to show good sportsmanship? I’ve known Pete for a while — He’s definitely not advising sailors to try get away with anything.
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