Don’t ever let a great racing day pass with no race committee

by Glenn McCarthy, Lake Michigan Sail Racing Federation
The International 505 Class runs all of their races without a Race Committee boat, whether for fleet races, National Championships or their World Championship. How do you run a race without Race Committee? With a Rabbit Start!

It is a really simple process and commonly works very well. It does require a quick discussion on shore in the morning in one – design fleets to pick which boat will be the Rabbit. For handicap fleets, the slowest boat in the fleet becomes the Rabbit.

You’ll be amazed how as the Rabbit is trimmed in on a port tack beat, how the starboard tack starters come in tight across the transom of the port tack Rabbit and the fleet really starts evenly, more even than a standard starting line, because everyone can see right before their very eyes how close to the starting line they are.

When finishing without a committee boat, boats make a U around the final mark, and if two boats are overlapped, it is the inside boat who wins.

Visit here for a description and diagram.