Decreasing numbers of race officials

As the sport matures, it has increased the reliance on certified race officials at a time when that community is not growing. Steve “Shipwreck” Schupak, Chair of the US Sailing Umpires Committee, is eager for a reversal of this trend and share this update:

The main focus of the US Sailing Committees is to recruit, promote, train, retain, and advance race officials in the USA. The Umpire’s Committee in addition to the other disciplines, Judging and Race Management, also has similar committees and missions, with many members of one committee on others.

Case in point is Edith Collins, the chair of the Judges Committee is also a member of the Umpires Committee, as well as cross over of Umpires Committee members on the Judges Committee.

The full committees can be found at:
Umpires – https://www.ussailing.org/competition/rules-officiating/umpires/
Judges – https://www.ussailing.org/competition/rules-officiating/judges/#judges-committee
Race Management – https://www.ussailing.org/competition/rules-officiating/race-officers/#rmc

These committees are comprised of dedicated and passionate people looking to promote sailing, and the administration of races. Collectively, these volunteers are working quietly behind the scenes to make things better for the sport with either the support, or in many cases in spite of what’s coming down the pipe from U.S. Sailing.

While there are new programs coming to the public to help recruit and improve the technical skills of race officials, there’s a big gap in the amount of new talent that’s really needed.

In an era where the requirements for certification keep expanding (continual Safesport certification and recertification, background checks, continuing education) just to name a few, it’s especially annoying when US Sailing places internal requirements that effectively make Race Management a “Pay to Play” effort for us volunteers to give back to the sport.

Paying for tests, paying for travel to US Sailing championship regattas, loss of long-standing race official liability insurance, and increased exposure to lawsuits, are just a few examples.

One has to ask the question: Why we as race officials continue to do this? There’s quite a bit of gray hair present, so one also has to ask who’s coming through the pipeline to backfill us as we retire, or otherwise stop volunteering.

Speaking for umpires, we’re a pretty small group – 51 National Umpires across the USA. Looking at that list, I’m happy to say that I’ve worked with all but possibly one. This is nice as we come together for events and pick right back up with friendships, but bad that there aren’t endless people coming up that will help to ensure the demand for umpires is able to be met by competent and qualified certified umpires.

There’s been an explosion over the past 5-8 years in the amount of team races popping up from high schools, colleges, keel boats, masters, and grandmasters, who are expanding the racing calendar across the country. We’re at a point now where there aren’t sufficient numbers of officials to staff all these events, which can lead to sailor dissatisfaction from bad calls and hearing results, and ultimately the events themselves.

I’d like to see a reversal of the trend of decreasing numbers of race officials, and that we’re able to staff any event at any location at any time. This may also give some us existing race officials the ability to go out and do some racing ourselves to keep current with boat handling, tactics, and perspective on the water that further enhances our abilities in the room, or umpire boat to better call and decide what’s in front of us.

So, I’d like to throw out a challenge to all sailors, parents, coaches, and spouses: Consider taking time of your own to give back to the sport that you’ve consumed race official resources from, and sign up to be an umpire, judge, or race official.

Let’s get to a point where when you call to volunteer, you’re thanked and informed the team is fully subscribed. Doing so will give you a sense of purpose, and appreciation for how much effort goes into running races.

While US Sailing has multiple focuses, the organization needs to spend time and effort and make the development of race officials a top priority with training offerings more plentiful, less burdensome, and open for people to compete in our currently time constrained environment we’re living in.

Let’s face it, without a pipeline of sailors going from Naples Sabots (yes I’m from the west coast…) to high school, college and beyond, there won’t be any pipeline of elite Olympic bound sailors needing the high performance and international support.