Refresher course for the 2023 season

John Strassman – a US Sailing National Race Officer and World Sailing International Race Officer – was the instructor for 15 race committee personnel that attended his Inland Lake Yachting Association refresher course for the 2023 season. Strassman reviewed many aspects of course management and safety … here are a few suggestions from the course:

• With the emphasis on safety throughout the nation, consider an extra recorder (person) to account for all the sailors on the course at any time. In particular, the PRO boat at a regatta should consider an extra set of hands with a clipboard.
• At the start, mark the scorecard with the total number sailors you expect at a mark rounding and at the finish. Make sure you can find EVERY boat throughout the race.
• Athletic tape over the speaker of a radio will diminish wind interference.
• For regattas, the PRO should review the SI’s to determine race order when a race is abandoned. Do you move to the next consecutive order or do you “re-sail” the next race immediately due to the prestigious nature of the trophy for that race? Remember to address this in the SIs.
• The shorten course best practice has been changed (not the rule). The leeward finish MAY now be set off to the side of a mark. (Hope you can find someone to remove the other mark). Consider your placement, if you have time, at the windward finish so the sailor rounds the mark in the proper manner for a legal finish but in a way the sailor would just go around the mark to port, as usual.