1/21/2020 PRO101 WITH MIKE GROSS

JANUARY 21, 2020

PRO 101

MIKE GROSS

This presentation by Mike Gross was all about the administration of regattas. As it turns out there are many types of sailboat races and sometimes rules differ depending on the type of racing you are engaged in.  There is match racing, which we all got accustomed to when the Americas Cup series was being conducted a few years back.  

 There is Team racing, which many in our club are familiar with because the Santana 22 fleet runs these on a regular basis.  Having engaged in these races, I can attest that they are very fun and educational, you really do learn about starts and rules.  I really appreciate the attitude of these guys, not only on the water but the debriefings after the races is all in good nature.  I love good sportsmanship and it is in these debriefings that you hear guys exclaiming to competitors “boy you really got me on that one move!”  If you get a chance to sail in one of these regattas, do it!

After a discussion of the many classes of racing, from dinghies to radio-controlled boat, we talked about the actual administration of the race.  The race officials are responsible for setting up the course and keeping track of all competitors.  The top administrator of any regatta is called the PRO (Principle Race Officer), but there are many other people necessary to conduct a regatta.  There are chase boats that deploy marks and assist boats in trouble.  This assistance can be critical when there is a small boat regatta like the laser class. On the committee boat, there must be a time-keeper who times the start and keeps the people deploying the flags on their toes. There is a recorder that sights the line to see if boats are OCS at the start and the times of each boat finishing.

We were fortunate to have several people attend tonight that have been very instrumental in assisting on the committee boat many times.  Chris North has been the recorder for many regattas and her insight was incredible on how she keeps track of boats on the start line and at the finish line.

There was a discussion of various flags used in regattas.   AP (answering pennant) is raised with 2 sounds of the horn to postpone a race. The Sierra flag is raised to shorten course with 2 sounds again.  The x flag is raised if there are boats OCS at the start with one horn and stays up until all OCS boats have come back to start appropriately.  The Charley flag is raised to indicate a change of course. 

I found the whole presentation and discussion to be very interesting and educational.

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Next Tuesday, Chris Hofmann will talk about boating safety.  The week after that will have Joe Rogers talking about the history of boating disasters in Monterey Bay and how they could have been prevented.

We are truly blessed to have such a talented group of sailors in the Santa Cruz area.

Barry L.Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice