Umpiring Short Handed

 It is not unusual, at some events, to be on your own in the umpire boat and often the only Umpire on a three boat team race. While the Umpiring Manual has a section on this it is not very detailed.

These events are often quite "Grass Root" and as such the competitors often do things which are unexpected, also they cannot manoeuvre their boats as efficiently as the best teams, so as an umpire you need to allow more space and to be alert. 

The manual advises following the normal left hand route, it does say that this should be adjusted to give the best view of incidents. This means that as you go up the first beat you need to decide where the action is going to be. If at the front you will follow the normal route along the top of the reach. However, if it is at the back you might choose to follow the right hand track, following below the top reach. This has the advantage that you can cut across to mark 3 without having to make a lot of wake.

The last beat is often a problem as it is easy to get trapped, either out to one side or with the action catching up, behind you. It is often profitable to "hang back" as this makes it easier to observe all the boats and the crossing angles are more easily observed than when you are having to switch observations between pairs of boats.

With single boat umpiring the convention is that the umpire boat taking the race will take the pin or left front position and the umpire for the next race will assist from the committee boat or right rear position, assuming they get back from any previous races. With a 3 minute sequence the second boat will return to their start about 1minute after the start.

If there is a "Floater" it may be possible to identify critical matches and they can join that race for it's entirety or until it is clear that the action is over, or it may be possible for them to pick up the race at Mark 3 and follow to the finish. The way they join this race depends very much on the timing of their arrival, which is often dictated by the action in the previous race and the way the race has spread out. Ideally, there will be a pair at the rear that they can pick p as they go into mark 3. However, it is often the case that there are four boats fighting as they approach mark 3. In this case they might pick up the leading pair, probably as they approach mark 4. What is important is that they act clearly and decisively so that the race umpire knows that he can leave decisions in respect of those boats to the Floater. 

Unfortunately, radio is not a lot of use in these circumstances, as you are on your own, driving the boat and trying to signal, so don't have a spare hand for the radio.

Finally, it would be nice if the Umpire Manual 14.3, made some reference to ensuring the comfort of fellow Umpires. Having the opportunity for a comfort break, or ensuring that hot drinks are delivered can make a big difference if working in a cold climate.