“Quality and Quantity.” College race management is the MASH unit of race committee work. It’s fast and dirty with a minimum of formality. One person with one small and nimble boat can run perfectly good and efficient college races. A second boat is needed for team racing, big fleet races that require a Port-line boat, and windy days that require an extra safety boat. The trick is to start the first race the moment the fleet gets outs and run the second race the moment the last boat finishes the first. During the race, this nimble “committee boat” (“crash boat” is probably a better term) blasts around moving marks one and a half legs ahead of the fleet to keep the course square for the likely variable wind. Right after the start, cast off the start boat anchor and adjust the gate so it is directly downwind from the windward offset mark, the proper length (about six boat lengths), and square to the wind. Once the fleet rounds the windward mark, adjust the mark and the offset, then go back down to the start/finish line and adjust for a good final leg.
The race manager must be careful not to over-shift marks for windshifts. Just as competitors tack on windshifts in an oscillating wind, the race manger too must expect the wind shift to go back towards where it was before. Of course the wind could continue shifting in the same direction or stop shifting once it has shifted to some new direction. Odds are however, the wind will shift from side to side; not in a pendulum like pattern but be oscillating nonetheless.
Equipment
Two small motorboats with anchors and anchor buoys and six marks
Start/finish flags for each boat and X and I flag for start boat, simple Sailing Instructions.
Powered loud hailer; two if using a Port-line boat; whistle or horn (or both) and paper and pen
Optional equipment includes VHF radios or cell phones, binoculars, tools and spare parts
Parameters
The minimum wind for starting a race is three knots. The first leg should be to windward and there should be a minimum of two windward legs. Downwind legs can be runs or reaches and the finish can be to windward or leeward. The length of the course for the first finisher should be 18 minutes. Races of only 15 minutes, or as long as 22 minutes, are acceptable but not desirable in important regattas. Races should not be postponed for small windshifts. Postponements are in order for windshifts that would cause either an unfair start, a first leg that might allow boats to reach the windward mark without tacking, or to correct a poorly set start line.
Abandonment
Abandoning a race is essentially a judgment call on the part of the race officer. Here are some guidelines to help the race officer with some consistency for their venue. At a shifty site (lake, river, inner harbor w/offshore wind) if any boat will lay the mark from the start to the first mark then the race should be abandoned and re-started. This could require some patience to see if a shift later in the beat requires tacking or you could call it early in the beat if boats are so overstood at the start that they begin to go into reaching mode early. At a steady wind site (onshore wind into a more open-water site) if one side of the fleet gets a huge advantage due a very large early wind shift or a very big difference in velocity on either side then consider abandoning. For any site, after the first leg, consider abandoning if the wind goes calm or if there will be only one windward leg. The point here is that the criteria for abandoning on the first leg is more sensitive to major wind variations than after the first leg. You should also abandon if the wind increases to the point where more boats capsize than you can safely attend to if needed.
Courses
The standard course for the last ten years is the windward-leeward twice around with offset and gate. Call it course 4 for four legs, which can be signaled by hand. Add a leg for a windward finish and you have course 5. Courses with reach legs should be once now and again but setting good reaches is a bit of a lost art. Long tight reaches in heavy air allow boats to plane. Any long reach legs can promote passing in either heavy wind or a light and variable wind. A modified triangle with start/finish in the middle is the best way to create long reach legs. The least interesting reaches are found on the old “Gold Cup” courses with broad reaches ending at the starting pin as the leeward mark. These courses led to the term “parade” and led to the elimination of most reaching in the sport.
Setting marks
Watch the wind for a minimum of ten minutes before setting the first leg. You need to find the mean wind direction as the wind is never steady. In confined venues ensure the windward mark is not too close to a shore then set the start line as close to the lee shore as you can to provide a long enough first leg. Gates are hard to set well. Regardless of how well the gate is set at first, figure on making constant adjustments to keep it square to the mean wind direction.
Finish lines
The finish line can be the old start line, a shortened version of the start or set separately from the start if there are two committee boats. One trick is to set the gate right on the start line so that the closest gate mark can be used as a finish pin for a short finish line.
Starting lines
Since setting relatively square lines is clearly important, use small motorboats with light anchors that can be adjusted rapidly. Start lines should be long enough for all the boats to fit with a little room in between. The angle should be square to the mean wind direction or at least within ten degrees in a shifty wind and within five degrees in a steady wind. When not square, make adjustments as fast as possible. Drag-able anchors allow either end to be pulled back to square quickly. With fleets of 18 or more boats, use of a second line boat (Port-line boat) greatly reduces the need for general recalls.
Calling the start
Let’s start with the premise that general recalls are unfair and waste time which reduces both quality and quantity. The I flag, round-the-ends, one-minute-rule also greatly reduces general recalls. The one-minute-rule reduces the need to take a mental photogr
aph at the gun. Instead, write down all the boats you see over (from both ends of the line) from one minute before until the start signal and voila, you have your list of OCS boats likely without a general recall. Venues with current pushing upwind may want to use the I flag for all starts depending upon the fleet. Huge right shifts also cause many boats to start over early. If the shift is really big, in either direction, consider a postponement before the starting signal and a quick re-start after a quick line adjustment.
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