Page 55 - Race

The RO will also have someone to follow a boat with their eyes until they are able to clearly identify
it. In many major competitions, a special competition number is allocated for the event which is fixed
on both sides of the bow where it can be clearly seen.

In many starts there can be one or more boats that cannot be clearly identified from either end of
the line in which case signal a General Recall. It is undesirable to signal an individual recall and then
a general recall.

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9.12 General Recall – 1 Sub

A General Recall should be used when the RO is not satisfied that
all boats over early have been identified. It shall be displayed with 
two sound signals.

The RO must always ask themselves what caused many boats to be over the line at the start? There
can be a variety of reasons including:

 a wind shift causing an unexpected surge of boats at one end of the line.
 a tidal current pushing boats onto the course side of the line.
 a short start line on which the boats have difficulty finding a space. This usually creates a bunch
in the middle of the line.
 a poorly defined start line. If the masts are not tall enough or the flags on the masts are not big
enough sailors have difficulty knowing where the start line is.

In case of any problems with the line (length, or angle to the wind etc) AP instead of General Recall
is to be used just before the start. In case of a race committee error discovered after the starting
signal (eg. timing), the race should be Abandoned (use N) rather than signalling a General Recall.
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The rules do allow a 1 Substitute to be used in these circumstances but it is considered better to
abandon. This is on the basis that best practice tells the sailors that a General Recall is used when
the problem was caused by them; when the problem is ours we AP if it is recognised before the start
or Abandoned when realised afterwards.

With the exception of the Black flag penalty, all boats are allowed to re-start the race after a General
Recall (but some may carry a 20% penalty if flag ‘Z’ was displayed). ROs should be very wary of
allowing a start to take place on a bad line in which there is likely to be a large number of boats over
the line followed by a General recall, especially when a penalty flag was used as the preparatory
signal. As stated above, a good RO will use a very late postponement signal under these
circumstances.

Flag ‘1 sub’ is left on display until one minute before the next signal, usually the warning signal for
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a re-start of the race (or it may be changed to one of the postponement signals). If there is no
alteration to the course or any other delay, the RO should prepare for a new warning signal as soon
as the fleet are back in the starting area. To facilitate this, many ROs will have a fast boat sail across
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the bows of the fleet displaying flag ‘1 Sub’ as a means of making sure that the whole fleet return
to the starting area as quickly as possible.
When the race committee is ready and the fleet is back in the starting area, flag ‘1 sub’ can be
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removed with one sound signal. The new warning signal is displayed precisely one minute later
commencing the new starting sequence.

Version March 2018 53