Select to expand quoteduzzi said..
You know, at the end of the story this really makes no sense at all. The tolerances that are allowed are so small, and the checks so non existent that all it would take to get away with breaking the rules is a good finish job. Apparently Soe was singled out only because the one-panel-2-cm-change showed, and attracted somebody's attention. "Cheat" with care and you would be off the hook, because apparently the PWA does not have the resources to check sails; or boards; or foils.
It is hard to see how this situation makes for fair racing, and it did succeed in messing up a ground braking event.
Your arguments make no sense at all.
Interesting piece on the DSQ in the new windsurf magazine. They have a piece on Japan and an interview with Johan Soe.
He says that they decided to measure the top 5 sailors 7.8 sizes after he used his in an abandoned heat... This was the only time he had used this sail, it was strange that the 7.8 was measured as that size was not being used at the event.
He says there had been no measuring of sails all year.
He says they never have showed him the protest letter to this day.
He says it felt like someone was watching and waiting for him to slip.
It would have been good if they had measured all his sails that were used in competition to see if any others were dodgy but given his interview it seems like a complete hatchet job was done on him by another rider.
I am not disagreeing with the outcome but the PWA process and whoever instigated it all seems very dodgy.
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It's very sad for Johan and dodgy indeed but if he didn't play by the rules and another competitor could take advantage of that, why wouldn't they notify the racing committee? This is pro level so some sailors will do anything it takes to win. Not great for friendships, but they seem to have taken the world title by doing this so guess their tactics have been successful. Still very sneaky indeed.
They got caught using a sail which was outside of the permitted tolerances.
As discussed on here, it takes a significant amount of time to check sails as they have to take all the battens out.
Self policing of the rules by competitors is a good way of doing it. If someone repeatedly calls out an opponent and their kit is ok then it will be like the boy who cried wolf.
I cant recall the timescales but maybe they checked after that abandoned heat because they knew they had spare time as the wind had gone.
The only thing dodgy in all this was the use of a modified sail in a competition. It really doesnt matter if that sail wasnt actually used in a completed heat or not. Its a shame they (P7 team) did this it happened as it tainted the best seasons competition I can remember.
Hopefully it will never happen again.
