Irish Sailors Show the Way for Chill–Out Sailing

Steve

Great article by Winkie Nixon on the future of sailing in Dublin bay / Ireland

http://afloat.ie/blogs/sailing-saturday-with-wm-nixon/item/24825-irish-sailors-show-the-way-for-chill%E2%80%93out-sailing

- Rally and pursuit races are fun, and gaining in popularity.
- Get rid of the AP flag; people want to sail, not float around waiting for perfect conditions.
- Stop worrying that the starting line is off by 5 degrees; start the race
- Get rid of uncomfortable gut hiking off the lower lifelines
- All spinnakers should be coloured; no more white!
- Start some races downwind
- More variety of courses; not only W-L
- Increased use of reaching legs, particularly with boats that can plane
- Involve youngsters more in big boat sailing; not all want to do dinghies.
- More public access to the water, then sailing would become even more important
- Pros should be helping the amateurs by being available at regattas to give help and guidance.

Tabnabs

The real elephant in the room for DB is the age profile of the race officers. No one is willing to take on this commitment (but love to dish out advice from the bar stool). It has the possibility of being a train wreck for DB in the next 5-10 years as there are literally no "young" experienced race officers available and willing to go out in MacLir, Freebird or the Hut

Steve

Valid point although I think a bit premature, there's enough experience there to see a good few years out.

The solution would probably be to invoke the 'boat assisting' format like in Howth to gain recruits / experience.

Tabnabs

I think they are in for a rude awakening.

HeidiHeidi

Ah now, there's a few of us lurking in the background who'll step in if it gets to crisis point

Admittedly on the water experience is limited - I'm always torn between wanting to race and doing my "duty", and have so far confined my efforts to the hut - but there's an ongoing low-key drive by DBSC to get RO's trained up, and there are quite a few of us who do odd days here and there to keep our hand in, so to speak.

The hut is indeed in difficulty age-wise, and I think that it will be gone in the next few years - there's certainly nobody stepping up to take over from any of "the girls" (their term, before I get killed for being patronising!), although there is a varied and active roster of sailors who do RO there on a Saturday. But there's a very active, fit and willing group of people manning MacLir and Freebird on a regular basis.

HeidiHeidi

Steve wrote: »

Valid point although I think a bit premature, there's enough experience there to see a good few years out.

The solution would probably be to invoke the 'boat assisting' format like in Howth to gain recruits / experience.

How does the "boat assisting" system work, out of interest? Is it along the lines of the "manning the line" duty in DBSC?

Steve

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

How does the "boat assisting" system work, out of interest? Is it along the lines of the "manning the line" duty in DBSC?

They have it in the SI's - if you fail to assist the RO when you're scheduled to then your boat gets a penalty in the series.

http://hyc.ie/clubracing/docs/Keelboat14_SI_170414.pdf

24. Boat Assisting

(a) The Sailing Committee shall appoint an Assistant Race Officer and a designated boat to provide two suitable and knowledgeable adults who shall be on the committee boat not later than one hour before the first scheduled warning signal.

(b) Boat Assist crews shall remain on duty until relieved by the R.O.

(c) Should the nominated boat(s) fail to fully comply with these Instructions, it (or the owner's current boat, if relevant) shall be scored Disqualification Not Excludable (DNE) for the mid-week race in the week following (Tuesday or Wednesday as relevant). The allocation of the designated boat is based on positions in the previous year's race results and the owner of the boat of that year is responsible for providing helpers.

(d) For Tuesday evening pier starts, the designated Assistant Race Officer will act as Race Officer. The onus is on the two classes, Squibs and Howth 17s, to provide at least two helpers who should be present at the East Pier Starter’s Hut at least 30 minutes before the first scheduled warning signal.

HeidiHeidi

Steve wrote: »

They have it in the SI's - if you fail to assist the RO when you're scheduled to then your boat gets a penalty in the series.

http://hyc.ie/clubracing/docs/Keelboat14_SI_170414.pdf

Sort of similar to the manning the line duty in DBSC then. Helpers usually give a dig out with flags, course changes, OCS signals, recording finishes etc.

Doesn't really address the issue of RO's (or lack thereof), which is what the OP was about. Unless in Howth they're specifically assigned to assist/shadow the RO?

But as I said, DBSC (as far as I know!) has enough of bodies for the moment to cover all RO needs.

Steve

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Sort of similar to the manning the line duty in DBSC then. Helpers usually give a dig out with flags, course changes, OCS signals, recording finishes etc.

Yeah except 'manning the line' is done on a more general basis per class and there's no real penalty if you don't show up - in HYC it's crews from boats that do well in the series rather than the same bunch of volunteers all the time (no disrespect to the fantastic job they do).

Doesn't really address the issue of RO's (or lack thereof), which is what the OP was about. Unless in Howth they're specifically assigned to assist/shadow the RO?

I guess I'm saying it creates more exposure and more people with experience of it means someone is more likely to want to do it full time as to PRO standard.
I guess the age thing will always be there in any club - as sailors get older and unable to race, RO / ARO work is there as a means to still enjoy the sport.

HeidiHeidi

Steve wrote: »

Yeah except 'manning the line' is done on a more general basis per class and there's no real penalty if you don't show up - in HYC it's crews from boats that do well in the series rather than the same bunch of volunteers all the time (no disrespect to the fantastic job they do).

I guess I'm saying it creates more exposure and more people with experience of it means someone is more likely to want to do it full time as to PRO standard.
I guess the age thing will always be there in any club - as sailors get older and unable to race, RO / ARO work is there as a means to still enjoy the sport.

Oh there most certainly are consequences in DBSC! Our class got docked a race a couple of years back as some eejits failed to show up, can't now remember why or what excuse they gave, but there was murder about it at the time.

Most classes run it on a roster system (be that voluntary or by nomination) so that every boat that races regularly gets caught every couple of years, and nobody has to do it two or three years in a row - surely nobbling the boats that do well every year is much less fair - and a bit of a disincentive if you wanted to stretch the point!