Important Collision Clarification

On page 88 of the January Racing Sheet we reported that there was a collision during the December 13 Berkeley YC Midwinter race, with a very serious injury to a crewmember’s toe, between the Newport 30 Achates and the Islander 36 Vivace. The article ended with the sentence "Achates filed a protest."

Vivace owner William O’Connor strongly objects to the last sentence — and with good reason.

"The implication [of the last sentence] is that I had been in the wrong and didn’t file a protest because it [the collision] was my fault. Nothing is further from the truth. I subsequently filed a protest within the proper time limit. Due to the serious injury to my crewmember, we did not fly a protest flag immediately, but left the area to get medical attention for him and never returned to the course."

Latitude sincerely apologizes for the omission that could easily be taken as an inference that Vivace was admitting fault.

Because of the holidays, the protest hearing over the incident will not be held until tomorrow.