This is designed to be an appendix to the RYA Race Management Manual

Transcription

1 This is designed to be an appendix to the RYA Race Management Manual Appendix? Team-racing 1. What is team-racing? 2. Assume three-boat event in two-man boats without spinnakers 3. "Race officer" defined 4. Formats 5. Continuous starting 6. Umpires, observers and protest committees 7. Notices of race and sailing instructions 8. Courses 9. Hallmark of a good event 10. Websites 1 What is team-racing? Team-racing is defined by ISAF in this way: "Team-racing is a discipline of sailing. Team-racing and Team Sailing have the same meaning. A team-race consists of two or more boats sailing as a team in a match against the same number of boats from an opposing team. One match is sailed per race. The boats used by the competitors are of the same class and should be equalised to the highest possible standard." Team-racing race officers should study appendix D (Team racing rules). 2 Assume three-boat event in two-man boats without spinnakers Team-racing may be in two-, three- or four-boat teams and may be in boats of any size. A lot of schools' team-racing is in one-man Toppers and, at the other end of the scale, some team-racing is in four- or five-man boats designed for long-distance races. For the purposes of this appendix the assumption is an event using three-boat teams in two-man boats. Sailing instructions usually forbid the use of spinnakers, hiking kit and associated equipment in team-racing events. The races are short and the legs of the course are short; such equipment detracts from the concept and doesn t add to the skills. We ve also needed to assume that the event is one of the top ones so that all issues are covered. But most team-racing events are small ones run on a shoe-string with minimum budgets and resources. For instance, we talk of three radio-networks; mostly, it s arm-waving to ask someone to come alongside. Anyone wishing to run an event, however small and however toe-in-the-water it might be, and who would like some help should contact team.racing@rya.org.uk Bibs are an optional and useful accessory. They help identification and therefore help competitors, umpires and spectators (and team racing is the most spectator-friendly discipline in the sport of sailing). You can keep costs down by issuing them only to helms.

2 3 "Race officer" defined and duties "Race officer" is not defined in the rules which always refer to the "race committee". In practice a race committee be it fleet racing, match racing, team-racing, sailboard racing or radio-controlled racing meets first thing in the morning, decides the strategy for the day and hands over its authority to the race officer(s) to carry out. It follows that "race officer" can be substituted for "race committee" in most of the rule book. In fleet racing the race officer has several duties: Safety Suitability of conditions Laying and adjusting courses Starting penalties Postponement decisions OCSs, generally on a long line General recalls Shortening Abandonment Results Supervision of protests Apart from the obvious shore-side part of the last two these duties are not only carried out in the race area, which will usually be many miles from shore, but can only be carried out there. In team-racing, which is held as close to the shore as possible on a much shorter course with fewer starters, these duties either don't exist, are much diminished (and therefore capable of delegation) or are just as well, if not better, done ashore. The race officer should therefore be ashore. There are other team-racing-specific reasons for the race officer to be ashore: Control of the race schedules Supplying as much racing as possible Decisions under rule D5.1 (breakdowns to OA-supplied boats) that are made as the event progresses Decisions about formats and schedules following time lost or broken gear Ensuring the results are up-to-date and taking necessary action if they aren't. Processing protests as the event progresses instead of having a set protesttime Overseeing tie-breaking Two team-racing-specific members consequently join the race-management team: 1. Starter. In charge of the committee boat to ensure correct sequences and to call OCSs.

3 2. Course manager. Sets and maintains the course. Maintenance is done on-thehoof to keep the momentum going apart from major wind shifts. See later about the protocols of mark-moving while racing is in progress. Other special team-racing points for race officers Concentrate responsibility The default in yacht-racing is, ironically, not to race. The wind's shifted; a buoy's moved; there's a fault with the committee boat; there's a super-tanker about to sail through the starting line we've been brought up twitching the AP. This is exacerbated in team-racing. Add that competitors aren't in the starting area; there's a shackle loose (on organising-authority-supplied boats); the umpires aren't ready any number of things which lead to the starter being told by far too many people to hold the sequence. The team-racing race officer must therefore instruct his team that he is the only one who can hold a sequence. If, for example, a competitor is late taking to his boat which consequently won't make the starting area in time the beachmaster must tell the race officer, not the starter, and the race officer will make the decision. It follows that the starter doesn't have the authority to hold a sequence either. Umpires aren't part of the race management team and will not be in the loop about this instruction. Many will also be used to carrying out the race management function at smaller events. So ask the chief umpire to make it plain to his team that they are not to attempt to hold a sequence they must, instead, report their problem to the race officer through the chief umpire (see below on use of radios). It has often been shown that it is better to let a race continue in what may turn out to be dubious circumstances than to hold a sequence at the slightest sign of a problem. Even if that one race has to be re-sailed the philosophy of continuing the event at all costs will produce more sailing for everyone. And, if the dubious race proves not to be important (it may not have an effect on who qualifies for the knock-out stage, for instance and needn't be sailed) that's even more reason to take the gamble. Rescue responsibilities Team-racing risk assessments show events are mostly held in small areas close to the shore. They involve, at a minimum, umpires, a course manager and a multi-purpose boat for relieving, say, the starting team all of them RIBs or in RIBs. That'll be at least six RIBs. These RIB drivers will have powerboat-driver qualifications. In most cases a race officer will conclude he doesn't need specific rescue craft. Radios Three networks will be needed: one for results, one for race management and one for umpires. In a slickly-run event there will be so much traffic on each of these networks the event will suffer if any try to share.

4 However it's important, for safety reasons, that the race-management and the umpire networks are able to talk to each other when necessary. Achieve that by issuing the chief umpire with radios for both his and the race-management network. Additionally the finish boat should have a radio for the race-management network as well as its dedicated results' one. Handling results This is almost each to his own. The "old-fashioned" way was for the finish-boat team to collate the raw results on the spot and just transmit the name of the winning team. Nowadays it's more usual for the team to transmit the raw results and allow the shore team to collate. This tendency has been accelerated by the use of computers. The method also has the advantage of publishing the raw results before the competitors are even ashore so that they can check the results as the first thing they do. Competitors are the best results-checkers there are. Ensure the sailing instructions only allow them ten minutes to request redress. Mustering Instruct your race management team not to muster teams in any way (having put that in the sailing instructions and your briefing). That is an absolute no-no. There are two main reasons. First, teams get "soft" and will soon stop looking after themselves and rely on the call. Secondly, mustering (official or unofficial) provides fertile ground for requests for redress from those who are late because they haven't been mustered properly or as energetically as fellow-competitors. Calling OCS boats We don't call OCS boats in fleet racing because we can't be sure everyone can hear. In team-racing with six boats on a short line we can, particularly if we use an amplifier. It follows that, if we regard competitors as our customers, we should call OCS boats as a service to them. Lay down the rules to your team so that you achieve clarity and consistency. The latter is important if you have more than one starter on duty during an event. Always start with the number of boats over. Use "Four boats" to announce that, not "There were four boats over the line at the start signal". The latter doesn't add to knowledge and wastes valuable time. Then call the numbers clearly, remembering that "One three" may be one boat 13 over the line or two boats 1 and may be taken for 30. Repeat the numbers until they either return or are too far away to hear. If you're not using organising-authority-supplied boats with nice short numbers you should allocate bow numbers for the event and, if possible, put the number on the sails and sterns as well. General recalls

5 Take the possibility out in your sailing instructions: A competent starter can call six boats. If there are six OCS they should be called OCS. Good teams have been known to try and force general recalls when they've mucked up their starting tactics. General recalls are a waste of time. The use of the general recall when there has been an error in the starting procedure can be covered by a postponement or abandonment. Postponements and abandonments The complex rules in the rule book are to cover all racing situations and aren't necessary for team-racing. Use an instruction saying all the signals are replaced by four rapid sounds. Any uncertainty can be cleared up orally using the umpires if necessary. 4 Formats One of the UK s most respected team-racing race officers has a maxim: Get started.... Get finished. You are about to produce a race schedule to give the competitors as much racing as possible. All will end in tears if a race officer doesn t concentrate on this maxim all the way through. He must ensure that event starts on time and then in order to finish the job it is essential he keeps an eye on time. If time is being lost an early decision to alter the format in better than a late one. That is what the second part of the maxim is referring to. Two main formats have emerged, mini-leagues and Swiss leagues, both of which are followed by a knock-out finals' stage. For inexperienced race officers a simple minileague is the way to go. The schedules should be pre-prepared and include estimated start times for each race so it s easy to see how the schedule is doing against the clock. (If there is time, all teams sail against all, preferably twice, and that is the format of the round robin. The formats below assume there are too many teams for all-againstall.) Mini-leagues Teams are put into mini-leagues either by draw (or similar) or seeding or both. They complete these leagues and the entrants are then put into, generally, a gold league, a silver league and a bronze league. The final stages may start with quarters or semis. If the former, the top three in the gold league may sail against the winner of the silver league. There are many variations and schedules for the variants are appearing more and more on websites. has an up-to-date list.

6 Swiss Leagues The Swiss League is a method of running the round robin without the need for minileagues. As the event progresses the format matches teams of similar ability so that peer is sailing against peer. The basis of the format: Round 1: a draw Round 2: Two leagues, one for winners in round 1 and one for losers, actual matches being determined by draws. Round 3: Three leagues, this time for those with two wins, those with two losses and those with one win and a loss. And so on. It can be understood that those with matching abilities are increasingly matched. Although the Swiss League has been around for many years, it became moribund as it needed much longer races than are now fashionable to be viable. Until it was computerised. The advantages of the current computerised Swiss League format are: Teams of similar ability are matched throughout the round-robin stage as before. This gives better sailing for competitors It also gives better viewing for spectators it reduces the number of processional races There is no stopping the computer keeps producing the schedules so maximum use is made of the time available The race officer doesn't have to allocate time in his programme to account for stoppages for changes in league formats. The computer program works on rounds at the end of which each team has completed the same number of races and the computer breaks all ties. After the second round (the first is determined by seeding or a draw) the computer will produce, at the end of each round, the entrants in order which can be used for the knock-out stages. The race officer can therefore just continue until it's time for the knock-out stages. 5 Continuous starting Continuous starting, where the starting signal of one race is the warning signal of the next, is one of the best things to have happened to team-racing. Using a three-minute sequence on a short course taking about six minutes to complete a race, 30 boats are needed to achieve continuous starting. Using a four-minute sequence you need 24 boats. However, there are so many advantages to continuous starting that it should be used even if these numbers of boats aren't available. Instead of race-after-race use, say, race followed by a blank sequence followed by a race and so on. This keeps the time discipline intact and it is the time discipline, and only time discipline, that is important.

7 Using a three-minute sequence, 20 races an hour will be achieved with continuous starting using no blank sequences. It may be surprising but with the same hardware and personnel only 14 races an hour seem possible without continuous starting. This is because, as we said earlier, the default is not to get on with it our death-wish not to race. A by-product of continuous starting is the predictability of how many races can be sailed in the time remaining. 6 Umpires, observers and protest committees Umpires are now common at most events because there are now more qualified umpires and they are becoming more confident about doing the job on their own (there used to be two umpires per umpire-boat at all times). Note that, if umpires are being used, lack of them or umpire-boats can lead to frustrating delays. You need an umpire present at the preparatory signal and your planning should allow for that. It s the job of the chief umpire to do the detailed schedules. The race officer and the chief umpire should have a good rapport and should discuss the event and salient points well in advance. If they differ on any point they should be quite clear about it between themselves and establish how they are going to work round it. For instance, the chief umpire may want his umpires to be able to speak to the race officer at any time; the race officer may not want to work that way. A permanently-available, on-shore protest committee alongside a full complement of umpires is a fairly new concept but has become yet another time-saver in team-racing. As the race committee may appoint the protest committee (rule 90 (a) (appointing protest committees) the race officer can ensure the slickness of the operation. (Until this innovation protests and requests-for-redress were heard at the end of the day or, for one-day events and the last day of multi-day events, time had to be allocated by the race officer for these hearings whose time-length were indeterminate. Precious sailing time was always lost.) Ensure these procedures are followed: Hearings are held outside, standing up Hearings are oral Numbers of witnesses are restricted A hearing is suspended if one of the parties is due to sail 7 Notices of race and sailing instructions Your notice of race (as well as the provisions in rule J (notice of race and sailing instructions)) should include: whether racing is being umpired or observed

8 the denial of the right of appeal, if applicable team composition won't change after registration composition of teams and the boats to be used and whether the latter are supplied by the Organising Authority the requirement of a damage deposit and the regulations of how it will be administered the format of the competition liability exclusion clause Your sailing instructions(as well as the provisions in rule J (notice of race and sailing instructions)) should similarly include: registered teams will only change in exceptional circumstances and with the written permission of the race committee. teams will not be mustered. boats supplied by the organising authority must not be modified. damage to organising-authority-supplied boats must be reported immediately penalties for breaking instructions like not modifying boats should be changed to the deduction of a win. [Disqualification in a lost race is meaningless.] boats that cannot continue shall retire immediately. [Lame boats have been known to try and help team-mates and what you want is the lame boat repaired as soon as possible.] similarly boats that capsize shall retire immediately. changes to sailing instructions to be posted ten minutes before the first affected race delete rule 26 (starting races) and related Race Signals. Stipulate the complete starting system to take their place and alter related rules: o audible signals to govern o three-minute sequence stipulating warning is three-minute and preparatory is two-minute. o three shapes or battens as visual signals and don't use a one-minute signal o call OCS numbers using an on-board PA system and reduce the four minutes in rule 29.1 (individual recall) to 30 seconds. o delete the rule 29.2 (general recall) allowing general recalls o replace the rules about postponement and abandonment with one allowing either with four short rapid sounds. o state that the latest ISAF Team-racing Call Book will be used. o stipulate a ten-minute protest limit for competitors Rules D3 (scoring a race) and D4 (scoring a series) are concerned with scoring teamraces. Many examples of notices of race and sailing instructions for team-racing events can be found on websites. 8 Courses

9 The current favourite is the starboard-hand S course: beat, reach, run, reach and beat. Keeping an event going is the main criterion and one ingredient is a permanentlyafloat course manager using easily-moved marks ones without anchors. Apart from major wind-shifts, marks should be adjusted during racing it's usually only a few metres. Care has to be taken that competitors aren't prejudiced so here is an aidememoire of what's permissible: the pin-end may be moved up to the preparatory signal (normally the twominute one in a three-minute sequence). there is nothing in the rules, except the ones allowing redress for prejudice if it can be proved, to stop marks being moved at any time including when boats are on the leg of the course bounded by the mark being moved. So, move a mark on the leg being sailed if you absolutely must and you're sure you won't prejudice a competitor, but best to stick to the practice of moving marks just as the last boat in a race has rounded; in most events the next race will not be round the previous mark. Don t mis-read rule 33 (changing the next leg of the course). It refers to changes to a leg and as team racing is invariably on a once-round course there can t be any changes as changes imply changes from the previous time the leg was used. Regard the starting line as the start of a leg and try to complete moving the first windward mark before the start signal. The course manager should bear in mind that, in setting priorities in team-racing, a dead run is more important than a true beat. 9 Hallmark of a good event Team-racers judge an event by how much racing they had. The twin diseases of racemanagement-itis and umpire-itis often militate against an organiser's best endeavours. 10 Websites RYA UK Team Racing Association Wilson Trophy US Team Racing Association Swiss League