RC Guide for Frosties
Objective: This is a set of guidlelines to assist new and veteran sailors on the protocols of Race Committee. The emphasis on this document is safety, rescuing distressed sailors, race starting signals and finishing. Other members of the fleet are invited and welcome to provide further details to improve the thoroughness of this document.
Personal Safety: All sailors are responsible for their own safety and the safety of those around them. As a minimum the following personal safety equipment is required:
1) PFD - a certified lifejacket must be worn at all times.
2) Whistle - a whistle is required to signal RC committee if sailor has capsized and needs assistance. Your whistle can also be used when performing RC duties to start and finish races
3) Boat shall carry a minimum of 60 pounds of buoyancy - This is equivelant to 7.2 gallons of air (plan on two 4 gallon containers or equivelant tanks).
Rescuing: – Safety is RC’s #1 Priority
· If unfamiliar with safety boat operation (including forward/reverse and engine shut-off/starting), ASK before being alone on the dock
· Regardless of race/starting sequence progress, assist any all capsizes or other distress immediately. Standby and assist until sailor and boat are safe, regardless of race progress.
· If wind conditions cause a sailor to capsize and if RC has a concern that multiple capsizes will occur if racing were to continue, it it the responsibiltiy of the RC to abandon race, and all boats shall stop racing and return safely to the dock. This is to prevent multiple capsizes beyond the rescuing capacity of a single chase boat.
· In elevated wind conditions, two volunteers should perform RC to assist in rescues and race management.
· Always rescue the swimmer first, worry about the boat, once the swimmer is in the RC Boat.
· If multiple sailors need rescue, collect all swimmers first, then rescue boats.
· Remember, RC is in charge. Be assertive if swimmer wants to stay in water or rescue his boat first.
· Always keep engine as far away from person in the water as possible/shut engine down if necessary
· Approach swimmer and boats from downwind, heading up into wind to target. Make sure motor is out of gear and then assist swimmer into RC boat.
· Once swimmer is in RC boat, approach Frosty. Take motor out of gear to ensure mainsheet and control lines do not wrap around prop. Take daggerboard and rudder (if loose) out of Frosty and place in RC boat (they sometimes float away or sink). Uncleat vang and make sure mainsheet is running free. Once lines are managed, put RC boat motor in gear and provide slight power into wind. Sailor should try to persuade Frosty to drift along side with bow into wind. Lift bow onto RC gunwale and drain as much water out of stern. Drop bow back into water and bail remaining water. Replace daggerboard and rudder and if sailor is coherent and ready, they shall not return to their craft.
· If the rescue is not managable on the open water, assist Frosty to the RC dock to perform rescue.
· Again, RC's priority is safety and they are in charge during the rescue. If the sailor is injured, in-coherent or judged to be not in the proper state of mind to return to their boat, the RC must take control of the situation and return the sailor to dry land and further help.
Starting:
· Announce the course several times
· Use the supplied whistle or your own whistle – yelling out the start times is not sufficient
· Position starting flag in middle of dock if RC dock is at stbd end of line; position flag at windward end of dock if RC dock is port end of line
· Position starting flag before 3 minute signal and do not move it during the start sequence
· Whistles are as follows (this can also be found in the rule book, Appendix Q):
Attention Signal (approx 5 sec before 3 min) – Multiple Whistles
3 Minutes – 3 long whistles (watch starts on FIRST whistle)
2 Minutes – 2 long whistles
1 Minute, 30 seconds – 1 long whistle, 3 short
1 Minute – 1 long whistle
30 seconds – 3 short whistles
20 seconds – 2 short whistles
10 seconds – 1 short whistle
5 seconds – 1 short whistle
4 seconds – 1 short whistle
3 seconds – 1 short whistle
2 seconds – 1 short whistle
1 second – 1 short whistle
0 seconds, GO – 1 long whistle
· Hail over early boats until they’ve all come back (an ALL CLEAR hail is not required and some people argue that it’s confusing – as opposed to silence)
· As boats clear themselves, announce that they are clear; continue to hail over early boats
· Signal a general recall ONLY if you know that there are boats over early that you cannot identify – if you can identify all the over early boats, you should not signal a general recall – you should call the over early boats back (RRS 29.2)
Finishes:
· Record finishes on rudder if it’s available – it’s waterproof, smudge proof, floats, and will not rip
· Boats finish when the very FIRST part of their hull, crew, or equipment crosses the finish line – a boat does NOT need to completely cross the line to finish
· A boat that has to do a 360 after (or on) the finish line has to re-finish after completing their 360
· Record sail numbers in the order they finish; record names with sail numbers in first race of the day if possible
· If you know of someone borrowing a boat/not sailing their own boat, record their name with their sail #
Before Leaving the RC Dock:
· Make sure the next person doing RC is familiar with how to operate the power boat because SAFETY IS #1 PRIORITY FOR RC.
Scoring:
The scoring system has been slightly modified for Fleet 9 to accommodate some peculiarities with winter racing in the seacoast of New Hampshire. Since we rotate Race Committee for each race, in the past it was sometimes a challenge to find a volunteer to sit out a race, the RC Rule was created in 2007/08 season and has been effective. Due to the cold weather, it is nice to stretch the legs and/or warm-up by sitting out a race. The Rest Rule was created in the second half of the 2008/09 series and will be reviewed for effectiveness at the end of the season.
· RC Rule – A rotating RC system is used to share the duty amongst all sailors. At a minimum, one sailor must volunteer to perform the RC responsibilities and shall sit out the race. To reward the individual for sitting out the race, he/she will be receive a “1” for the race. If there are more races than racers, the RC volunteer will receive their average score for subsequent races.
· Rest Rule – The purpose of this rule is to avoid penalizing racers who need to rest, have an equipment problem, need to warm-up or have to miss a race or two due for reasons associated with winter racing. Racers can choose to sit out a race if they need to rest, stretch or warm up and will be scored their daily average for the given race. This rule will also be used for scoring racers that arrive late or leave early. There are a few stipulations:
· A racer must compete in at least 60% (hurdle) of the races to qualify rounded to the closest whole number.
· If more races are sat out, then they will be scored DNS for each race until the hurdle is satisfied
· Races sat out above the hurdle will be scored the average of the races raced, not including the DNS penalties.
· Performing RC will receive a score of 1 and will be included as a race raced.
· Follow up RC will not count as a race raced, but will receive average score
· A racer must announce his intentions to sit out to the RC prior to the prepatory signal. You can not bail out of a race and take the Rest Rule. All racers that are engaged in the starting sequence and do not finish the race will be scored DNF.
