I must say a big "THIS" to what Mike's posted. The decision to race / not race falls upon the PRO and their experience and common sense. That's why the best PROs are racers. They have the judgement to know when enough is enough.
Hi Matt,
Not sure if you're thinking that I didn't say that somewhere in these piles of posts. I definitely meant all of that.
Yes, the PRO sets up races or not. No, no one is forced to race. It is the decision of the sailors alone as to go out (and to know when to come in).
At every event that I run with an iffy forecast or light support boats, at the skippers meeting I make no secrets. I basically say this at the skippers meeting:
"This is the forecast... These are the support boats... We will reward very generous redress to boats that assist one another. If you don't think you can handle it, please don't go out. If you do go out and find out that you were wrong, please come back in."
I think there are people on this forum that feel that if a PRO runs races, some folks would feel pressured into racing that probably shouldn't. This becomes a gray area of influence that the PRO can have on the event. Not saying it's a liability issue, but I'm not a lawyer.
I would also like to thank everyone for not suing me after the lightning incident last year. Two PDAs on the water, a laptop on the beach, nothing. Then BANG! as boats were finishing. Gotta love lakes. Priceless...
Mike
