When nobody wants to file a protest
Published on January 18th, 2025
by Max Ebb, Latitude 38
“Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die….” And everybody wants to talk about what happened out on the race course, but nobody wants to file a protest. It’s understandable. Why give up an evening with your friends at the dinner table, or your place at the club bar, for interminable rehashing in the protest room? They usually get it wrong anyway, and this is just a beer can race.
“That’s exactly why we should file!” insisted one of my crew. “This is bottom-tier, low-stakes who-cares racing, so let’s work the system, just for practice. It’s an opportunity to learn.”
I looked at my watch. We still had five minutes before time ran out for filing a protest.
“We can file online,” suggested the crew. “I’ll bring the protest form up on my phone.” That stopped me from complaining that I barely had enough time to find a protest form, look up the numbers of the rules infringed, and get it all to the race desk. – Full report