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Writer's picturecolinrose9

Thoughts on low visibility Race Officering

Sunday's race proved to be a stressful afternoon for me as Race Officer. I thought I'd jot down some thoughts and suggestions as to how things could be improved when the visibility closes down during a Channel race.


Visibility at the start of the race was excellent. Through the binoculars I could see vehicles moving in Weston-super-Mare but after a burgher and chips for lunch in PYC the visibility started to deteriorate.


The ODM, Mid Cardiff buoy, was becoming difficult to see although still just about visible when the first five or six yachts crossed the finish line. At that point, whilst I could still see the buoy, I made myself a local transit with a point on the balcony handrail and the flagstaff. This proved to be invaluable.


By the time the seventh, eighth and ninth yachts were approaching the line Mid Cardiff was not visible at all and the yachts unidentifiable apart from Corsair's yellow spinnaker which I could just about make out.


After that the final eleven finishers were just vague impressions. Two or three yachts I did not see at all. Times were awarded by co-ordinating the vague impressions, my “home made” transit and VHF reported positions.


How could things be improved?


Take your own times. If every yacht runs a stopwatch or other suitable timer then the individual time for that yacht can be recorded accurately as she crosses the finishing line. I know that a lot of you do this already but in the excitement of the finish I suspect that many do not stop the watch or record the time. Make it part of your routine.


Identify the finish line. This proved to be difficult for yachts that finished away from Mid Cardiff and could not see both ends of the line. This is where you need to dig out your old hand bearing compass from the depths of the chart table. The bearing from the flagstaff is 108 deg and the reciprocal from Mid Cardiff is 288 deg. (according to Navionics!). Variation at the moment is almost insignificant (according to Google!).


VHF. I found this a big contributor to my stress. When visibility was good then the simple announcement that your yacht was approaching the line was helpful and sufficient. As visibility decreased but I could still see them it was helpful when yachts could describe their relative positions to other yachts. However, when visibility was so bad I could not see any yachts then the only information that I needed was the yacht name and when they crossed the line. What actually happened was that the VHF was swamped by yachts broadcasting unnecessary information such as “ I'm Yacht A and Yacht B is to leeward and I'm behind Yacht C with Yacht D following me”; - I couldn't see any of them.


This is not a criticism, I'm just telling it as it was. I am fully aware that people were trying their best to be helpful in a difficult situation. Any further suggestions on how to improve things are very welcome.


Colin

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I do wonder if the PYC ODM could be moved a bit further out. I dont know how far it would have to go to allow the IRC boats with 2m keels to come inside of it on the bottom of a spring tide but maybe we could investigate the next time we go out. It would of course need the agreement of PYC.

There is nothing to stop all boats coming in closer to the PYC ODM rather than finishing out by mid cardiff - maybe if the rule was "no see - no finish" ?😉

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