Let's examine the possibilities. The ES is required to verify that the boomilever doesn't touch below the depth line or inside the width line, and verify the 40-45cm load point. This has to happen before loading sand, because the boom won't exist afterwards.saracupp wrote: ↑February 1st, 2020, 1:57 pm When they completed these steps they were instructed to declare "ready to load". At that point a volunteer would check the competition parameters for chain center line between 40 and 45cm and no contact between the boomilever and the testing wall within the contact width lines or below the contact depth line. If a violation was found, the boomilever was ruled to be Tier 2 and the participants were not allowed to make further adjustments.
Restricting further adjustment of the loading assembly or the boomilever's position on the testing wall after speaking the words "ready to load" seems to contradict 4.2.d (below):The participants will be allowed to adjust the boomilever until they start loading sand. Once loading of sand has begun , the boomilever must not be further adjusted.
This gives us two possibilities: either the ES measures the device, declares it out of bounds, and it's automatically tier 2 (which is what you say happened) or the ES measures the device and then the participants have the opportunity to adjust it until the ES declares it within limits, and they only get tiered if they are unable to adjust their device to fit.
You are wanting to use 4.2.d to claim that the second possibility is the only legal one. I don't think the rules require that - I think a reasonable interpretation is that the "ready to load" declaration is the start of the sand-loading process - but I'd think there's some uncertainty here, so it would be worth submitting a FAQ to get an official clarification.