Light Weather

 It's not unusual for Team Racing to be conducted in very light weather (as was the case last Saturday). 

In these conditions the skill differences can result in massive differences in positions, skilled teams will overtake the race infront, poor sailors can be left battleing up the first beat while everyone else has finished. It can be painful to watch. 

I'm sure that one of the problems is that teams do not go out and practise when the water is mirror flat, but it can pay dividends. The other thing that stands out is the way the less skilled sailors will try and force their opinion onto the wind/boat. They will hold a sail out to catch the wind even if it is backing (or filling with wind on the wrong side). The boat will be heeled into the wind, gravity will hold the boom out, but the sail will be filled, or shaped on the wrong side. The boat can be moving backwards and nothing will change!

So what are the secrets? No 1 is you have to accept that in these conditions the draft (a very light wind) can come from any diretion. The sails will move to the slightest draft, so you have to concentrate on them and set them for that wind at that moment. Success is when the algae in the water begins to move in the desired direction. If you produce a ripple - then you are really motoring!

It's not easy - but it isn't rocket science.

Umpires don't eat

Lunches that require a knife and fork. It is hard enough to drive an umpire boat without having to balance the food container and hold a piece of cutlery, let alone two.

Besides by the time such hot fiod gets out to us it is generally cold. 

It's the reason crisps are not popular. One hand to hold the bag, another to eat, who is driving the boat?

Chocolate bars etc can be unwrapped quickly and eaten at leisure, and the colder they are the better they taste.

Apologies to the caterers, its not your fault that it can take a long time to deliver your beautifully prepared food. For the treasurer, it's often a lot cheaper if you prepare rolls, or even purchase sandwiches at a supermarket, and the Umpires will be just as happy.

It's so simple!

THE SHROUDS NEED TO BE TAPED!

At Reading we had at least three shrouds come adrift where the rigging link or the shackle came undone. It shouldn't happen! A simple piece of electrical tape can prevent it. So the CHUMP sends out the instruction to the changeover boat - ensure the shrouds are taped. OK ome the reply.

And yet on the second day I am still coming across boats without tape covering the rigging plate or the shackle attaching the shroud to the boat. A piece of electrical tape costing less than 1p can save a mast costing (according to Google) between £997 and £1215.

And when it comes off. PLEASE tack the boat, so that the strain is taken on the other working shroud. You would think that would be obvious but we still see university students sitting there with the mast adopting a banana shape to leeward and them pointing at this useless piece of wire dangling from the windward side of the mast. 

What I forgot.

 Gave a chat at the NSSA SH Team Racing and wish I had remembered to mention that Rule 15 often comes into play on the run when the boat going left down the run or just on the left gybes onto starboard.

They gain right of way but Rule 15 requires them to initially give the other boat room to Keep Clear. The other boat generally being on port has to gybe in order to keep clear. Here comes the problem for the Umpires "Room" is " while manoeuvering promptly in a seamanlike way" 

Should conditions be light is it seamanlike to not allow the boom to swing out and hit the other boat after the gybe? If the wind is strong then the boom has to come out or a dinghy risks capsizing, a keelboat may risk a broach. But when does the wind get light enough that we expect a sailor to hold the boom?

New Rules

 2025 saw the introduction of the latest set of rules which will last to 2028.

A couple of changes to note:-

Rule 17 has had a sentence deleted at the end so that the overlap is now judged from when a boat goes through head to wind and is on the same tack as the other. In practice this means that it is very difficult to judge if an overlap was established so the default is that it was not. Luckily sailors are not in the habit of protesting when the leeward boat infringes 17 on a beat, but I suspect it will become more common as the situation gets better known.

Rule 20 now says that a boat may hail using specific words "room to tack" However, even if she does not use these words the hailed boat must respond 20.2. No effective change in my opinion but greater emphasis on this rule. Question of whether a hail which does not use the correct words breaks the rule is still open.

Rule 14 has new clauses making it more effective but in dinghy team racing the culture seems to be to avoid using it unless it is blatant and there still has to be damage for the right of way boat to be penalised 43.1(b)

D2.2(b) is the big one for Team Racers. The Umpires will now penalise the boat that broke a rule following a protest - it doesn't matter if the wrong boat spins, that no longer closes the incident. So team racers need to be careful about when they protest.

Modern Ways

 I'm just not used to them - Modern Ways!

Young people come to a volunteer club and after sailing seem to think they can just walk away from the scene, someone else will put their boat away. Mind you that is also down to the volunteers who just do it, they don't encourage/cajole them into putting stuff away. It's just the modern way!

The other modern way is to ignore instruction. Tacking is hard, so we will just gybe around the buoys. Don't worry about what the instructions are - it's hard so we won't do it that way. Guess I had better get used to these modern ways.

Old and curmudgeonly am I.

Lessons from BUSA 2024

 The major lesson is that you cannot judge a course from the shore. You need to get out on the water and eventually you have to bite the bullet.

On the second day the wind kept swinging to the south, when the forecast said it would go the other way. The Finish boat ended up downwind of the start and we had three runs and a one sided beat to finish. As always the first beat was OK. 

The problem was having a dedicated mark layer there was a tendency to rely on them rather than have the entire Umpire team get involved. There is a perception that moving the finish takes longer than trimming the course but this need not be the case, particularly if the boat is towed by it's anchor warp (settling time is much reduced) There were delays, mainly for boat repairs. Here again experience is the key to reducing the time taken. 

I was surprised at how soon we come off the water - always a difficult decision for the race officer - and quite right on this occasion. The problem is exacerbated in team racing as you are forcing boats, not owned by individuals, into close proximity and the skill level is quite variable. So what would be reasonable for fleet racing is too much for Team Racing. Once ashore you need a big change to be convinced that it is worth re-launching and time quickly becomes your enemy.

There is a bunker mentality at big events. You are assigned a job and you stay in your bunker. Communication must follow the assigned route, so you bite your lip and stay silent. Step out of your bunker and you step on someone's toes. I guess I am not a team player!

I am not convinced that having so many umpires improves the game. However, having an American along provided a real insight. Their use of radios could be really useful but most UK Umpires are not used to listening to them - partly a chicken and egg problem I suspect. Perhaps better equipment - headsets were talked about at one stage.