BBSC

Help for Race Officers

The following notes are designed to make the job of Race Officer a little smoother. If there is anything you think we could usefully add, please let us know.

Introduction to being a Race Officer at BBSC
Setting a good course
Setting Courses - some examples
The Timer
Flags & Timing
Average Lap racing - how it works
Recording Finishes and Putting them in the Computer

Introduction to being a Race Officer at BBSC

BBSC can be proud of the sailors that have sailed here. There are many famous sailors who have been club members. Just to name one - leader and helmsman of the recent GB Americas Cup campaign - Ian Walker. Currently we have some champions in the fleet. It is no coincidence they sail here. It is because we have good quality racing. Racing which is not a lottery and thus rewards good technique. We achieve this because we are not lazy, we use a committee boat which enables us to have proper beats and square start lines. It is these two items that the Race Officer should keep in mind if he wants to be good at his job.

It is important to have a start line square to the wind because if it is not there is only one boat that can get the best start.
It is important to have a good long beat which requires tacking to reach the windward mark because that is what sorts the good sailors from the not so good.
Usual race times are: in summer 11:30 and 14:15; in winter 11:00 and 13:45. For short course racing (standard course, fewer laps) we use the same start times but run two races in the morning session and two in the afternoon.

Setting a good course

This guide is about being a Race Officer, setting a good course is what most RO fail to get right. There are a loads of other tasks which go to make up the job but there is normally help on hand for these so this guide concentrates on course setting. You will find a set of standard courses to copy, you only have to tweak the angles to match the wind direction. Ignore them only if you feel very confident - they are tried and tested. The standard courses are derived so as to maximise the chance of getting a good beat. You know that this is what makes a good race. Reaches are processional - its very hard to get past another boat - so these should be minimised. Runs on the other hand are very interesting in that the boats at the back can attack those just ahead. For boats with assymetric spinnakers this is a very demanding leg with many opportunities to overtake or be overtaken. We don't often have have a wind direction which gives enough room to for a windward/leeward course like the America's Cup so we generaly make do with triangles and figure of 8s. These courses do well enough as long as the gate is not in the middle of the beat. Why shouldn't the gate be in the middle? The beat is tactical, it can pay to go one side or the other. Good raceing sailors will be trying to find the favoured side - this important aspect will be restricted if the boats have to pass through a narrow line half way up the beat. Notice that the example courses all have the line well down-wind near the leeward mark. This can only be achieved if the committee boat is moved off its mooring. I must repeat this since it is the most ignored and yet most important thing a RO must do - move the committee boat. The other good thing about moving the committee boat is that it is then anchored which means it can be eased back or forward on its anchor warp and that makes it easier to achieve the other important factor to a good race - a square line.

Setting Courses - some examples

The Timer

The race timer is called AcuSail and requires just two connections to the outside world to get the unit up and running. Start by plugging the external horn into the Horn Output and then plug the battery into the 12V DC Input. AcuSail will power-up as soon as the battery is connected. In addition to the two main connections you may have ancillary devices (a remote horn switch for example), which should be connected to the Remote Control socket. This connection is optional. AcuSail is fully functional without these extra additions. Once AcuSail is connected to a battery it will display a sign-on message for three seconds, followed by the software version for a second.

Further details of using the Acusail timer.

Flags & Timing

Timing the start is simple.

At 5 minutes to the start raise the class flag
At 4 raise the Blue Peter
At 1 minute take the Blue Peter down and
At the start take the class flag down

If there is a second start, say for juniors, it follows directly so as the class flag comes down the next class flag goes up. To help you time the start we have a timer. Its simple to set up. Firstly set the time by stepping through the hours and minutes and seconds and start just as you would with a digital watch but without the fiddly buttons. Then in the minute leading up to your chosen start time press the go button - you will then get sound signals at the appropriate time to hoist and lower the flags. Now to be really clever set the timer up ashore and use the time on the digital clock in the garage. This clock is sychronised by radio to a reference which is always correct.

Average Lap Racing - how it works

At BBSC we sail using the Portsmouth Yardstick handicapping system whereby each class of boat has a factor which corrects its time to equalise the differences in performance. In practice this means we run our races for a period of time (generally 75 minutes) and finish the boats as they pass through the line. The faster boats may do more laps than the slower but this is all allowed for by the computer program. The race officer has merely to record the start time of the race and the finish time and number of laps of each boat after 75 minutes. Don't bother to work out elapsed time the computer does that, simply record start time of race, finish time for each boat and number of laps. Don’t wait for the leader to come round before you finish – at 75 minutes (or thereabouts) hoist the S flag and finish the boats as they cross the line.

Recording Finishes and Putting them in the Computer

Afloat

The race you are running needs to be entered into the computer. So whilst afloat you recorded:

the start time of the race
each boat's sail number
number of laps
finish time

Computer

At the computer select the race by double clicking on it. A window will open inviting you to adjust the start time. Do so and save, and another window will ask for a sail no. enter this and press the tab key. The owner and boat name and class will appear for you - if not sort that out later and try another boat. Now enter the time in HHMMSS - you don't need to bother with colons between the units. Now enter the number of laps and hit the return key. Each boat is entered in this way and takes very little time, with practice. Finally click on the calculate button and then print. If you have any problems, ask, there are always plenty of people around who can help you.

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