Page 44 - Race

Once the current mean wind has been established, the RO has to decide which way the wind is
likely to move during the period when racing is to take place. This is one of the first judgments that
the RO makes. Local knowledge of the micro-climate of the race area is an essential element in
making this judgement. This is particularly difficult if the RO is not a local person. Having someone
with good local knowledge on the committee vessel is essential.

To save time and energy, a good RO will position the committee vessel within their designated race
area, to take into account any likely future wind shifts, thus allowing them to pivot the course on the
position of the committee vessel.

When anchoring the committee vessel extra line should be paid out. Apart from ensuring that the
anchor does not drag it allows the RO to adjust the start line by either paying out more line (making
the pin end favoured), or taking some in without disturbing the anchor on the seabed (making the
committee vessel end favoured).

The Pin End can take two forms:

1. It can be a boat with a mast designating the start line. The same principles apply to this boat as
those applying to the committee vessel. A good anchor and a long line make for easier
adjustment of the start line.

2. The alternative is to use a buoy with or without a flag displayed, as the other end of the start line.
Using a buoy has the one disadvantage of only allowing the ‘fine tuning’ of the start line to be
made from the committee vessel. It could be argued that placing this buoy in the correct position
also takes considerably more effort and skill, by the crew of the mark laying boat. This is best
achieved by the mark laying boat moving downwind of the pin end position, streaming the buoy
(towing the buoy behind the boat) with the full anchor line out and just the anchor in the mark
laying boat. The mark layer then motors parallel to the main committee vessel (so taking into
account the combined effect of both the wind and the tide). When the boat approaches the
intended position of the pin end, the instruction to ‘standby’ is given. The boat continues to move
slowly forward until the pin end buoy is in position when the order to drop the anchor is given.
Provided the anchor line on the pin end buoy is not too short the pin end buoy will stay in the
correct position.

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In all this manoeuvring of the boats the object should be to set a start line at 90 to the sailing wind.
It can be adjusted using the methods described above.

Start Line Length
The start line needs to be of the required
length and where possible laser range
finders should be used to establish this
accurately. The formula is: the number of
boats x length of the boat plus 10% to 50%.
Some ROs regard this as too generous but
the formula is designed to allow boats at the
start to ‘manoeuvre in a seaman-like
manner’.

The wind and sea conditions as well as the
manoeuvrability of the racing boats should
be considered. There is a considerable
difference between an Optimist dinghy and a

Version March 2018 42