The on the water stuff always has a component you can't control. The racers and PC will decide if what finally happened was fair or not. Who knows... maybe the mark boat farked up the ground tackle and did not communicate this fact... whatever... stuff happens. As a sailor I can understand the issues that come up in the heat of the moment. RC being unprepared for the conditions is less excusable.

Last race, it's blowing 20 K with 3 foot seas for a big boat distance race. The PRO decides to delay the start by 30 minutes to allow the host fleet additional time to sail the 15 miles into the wind to the start. We got the message on the radio. so OK!

The problems started with check in at the committe boat... not a seperate check in boat. in those conditions... it was a bit dicey to sail by for mandatory verbal check in.

Indecision on the PRO's part as to even run the race stopped him from posting a course before the scheduled 5 minute sequence.

Picking up the course in the 5 minutes pre sequence was not safe either. The PRO was short handed and decided he had to personally man the radio to announce the course sequence. Eventually the course info got out over the lousy radio as other boats repeated the course back to the RC. The PRO was clearly getting very frustrated.

The real problem was that he called for a down wind start and could only put the the small RC flags on the course side of the boat for safety reasons. So with invisible flags and faulty radio use on his part... start times were a complete mystery.

So.. the RC work was probably the worst of the season since they were not prepared for the conditions but it was the same handicap for everyone racing. (I later came to find out he was a dear dear old friend).

What I believe is inexcusable is messing up the stuff you can control... eg the NOR, SI's, last minute class splits and all of the stuff that should be clear before you leave the house to go sailing.

Let's see, if the pin boat is less than 1 mile upwind, that's within range of an RPG, right? It would get them paying attention, although they may have trouble setting the pin when their boat sinks.

As Matt said, this is meant to inspire discussion...

There is no rule that says the starting pin needs to be set at the starting signal. It needs to be set at the prep signal.

There is no rule that says any other mark needs to be in place at any given time (other than fairness). To appreciate the reason for this, we need to think outside of our little box.

Some leadmine classes like really long courses and long race times. When the first leg is 1.8nm or more away, other than for risk management (which is always a valid concern), why would the mark need to be in the water at the start? You won't even be able to see it for another 15-20 minutes after the start.

Realistically for our smaller courses, and especially if you're posting direction and distance on the signal boat, we know where the mark is going to be, and we typically set it while in sequence.

As for mutiny, I was also reading this into Matt's initial post: Unless it's a rescue, the dude on the pin boat had better not go anwhere (especially up to the top of the course) without checking with me first. Of course, I most likely would have asked him first. Been there, and it's amazing how quickly "gear tangling issues" go away when you send a second boat to help...

Real question is, what did Matt do to piss of the weather mark team?

Mike

It is absolutely amazing how often that happens.

You were in that race Jake. Did you notice?

I'll give you a hint - Caseville.

Here's another scenario, where I had the weather mark on the move during the sequence (no games this time):

Big wind shift (25°) comes through with about 2 minutes to go on the sequence. It looks like it's going to stick, so I postpone. The pin boat was right on the mark, and since we were in only 15 ft. of water, I knew he could get it re-set quickly. I told the weather mark to get going as the pin boat was pulling the pin, then asked the timer to start a sequence at the next even minute. In less than two minutes, the line was reset and we were in a sequence. I then turned my attention to the weather mark and got him squared away with about 1:30 to go, then went to the back of the boat to call the line. I didn't bother with the gate until after the start.

Bottom line - I delayed the start by only 4 minutes while resetting the course. Personally, I hate sitting around between races, so I work really hard as a RO to get people racing, not waiting.

And people say RC work is boring!

You should know that if I'm on the foredeck of the signal boat, calling the shots - you will spend roughly the same amount of time on each tack going to the weather mark (which may mean it's not directly to weather in a current or where one side is obviously favored). Trust me.

Your pre-start tactic of sighting of the WM is born of race committees who don't understand that concept. When I was racing the H-14 NAs, we couldn't see the weather mark at the start (big waves, little boats and marks), but I knew the PRO (Irene McNeill) understood the "concept" - and that our weather legs would be about 10-12 minutes long. I'd start, sail on stbd. tack for ~4 minutes, then tack. I never overstood the mark. Same thing when going through the gate to go back upwind. Sail for ~4 minutes, then start looking for the mark.

That said, for catamaran courses where you can see the weather mark from the start, I rarely have it "loose" at the start for the very reasons you state.

This is a great discussion with a bunch of very knowledgeable people!

That's not mutiny. I mutinied on a PRO once! The RC was on a 65' catamaran on a semi-sheltered part of the course and I was on a 10' inflatable working safety. I tend to stay toward the A-mark end of the course, so that I can get anywhere on the course if there's an emergency. The wind piped up over 30, and the seas started to get crazy outside. After I plucked about 5 people out of the water that were separated from their boats, I radioed the RC to tell them what I was experiencing. They were warm and comfy about 8' off the water, while I was about a foot off the water getting beat, so it didn't really register. The seastate deteriorated, and I made another call, but they started another race. We had plucked over 20 guys out of the water, righted 10 boats, and towed two repairs. All of the sailors on the course were fatigued and most of the victims couldn't pull themselves back on board. My crew and myself were getting hurt and fatigued, and felt that our safety was in danger, so I called the RC and said that we were off station. That was followed by a heated discussion that ended in a mutual "F-you".

I shut off my radio and that was that. We didn't leave the course, we just wanted to stop the banter while we were trying to work. We plucked a few more dudes, including one guy that had an injured back that the coasties couldn't get close enough to with their bigger boats due to all of the lines in the water.

An hour or so later, I motored up to the committee boat to continue the 'discussion', and to the PROs credit he wanted to hop on board to see what it was like out there. He got on board, stepped in about 6 inches of water. I saw the look on his face drop, and off we went. A boat had a ripped main, pretzled rudder system and was getting blown downwind with no control. The skipper and crew were fatigued and couldn't get the main down. We got them sorted, and started to tow them in and the PRO called the committee and shut down races and proceeded to apologize.

We settled the score over dinner and drinks and now are good friends. The meeting was a little brutal on the RC the next morning.

Good times. Wouldn't miss that again for the world!

J

Another thought just came to mind...

Rule #1 for a racing sailor: No matter what goes wrong, it's always the skipper's fault. If the crew screws up, it's usually because you didn't prepare them well enough. If the boat breaks, you didn't prepare your equipment well enough.

Same basic idea applies to race management.

Mike

What's the guidance for a PRO handed a high wind forecast kicking in on top of a steady 20 as the distance race proceeds?

Not enough information.
- What kind of boats?
- What is the ability of those boats/crews to deal with high wind?
- Define "high wind" 25? 30+?
- When is the high wind forecasted to hit?
- How much more of the race is remaining?
- Where is the race? (is the way sheltered, are there places to bail out to?)
- What are your resources? (Mark boats, people)

Lots of information to consider on that one.

Agree with all of what Matt said.

We raced Optis on Saturday with wind starting at 14, quickly building to 20, and gusting near 30 by the end of the 4th race. We were thanked by all the coaches and parents afterwards!

I know, please try to get the image of me in an Opti out of your head...

Mike