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Preventing sailors from racing in bad weather
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winging it View Drop Down
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Posts: 3958 		Post Options Post Options   Quote winging it Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Preventing sailors from racing in bad weather
    Posted: 08 May 12 at 9:17am
The point about what constitutes 'experienced' is well made.  At Grafham the individual sailor must decide if they are expereinced enough for the conditions.  If as safety crew we find they aren't we will send them home pretty quickly. 

Racing and coaching are slightly different in that you tend to have safety cover close at hand, whereas for casual sailing the rib might not always be on the water, so good judgement is needed. 

Ultimately responsibility must always lie with the sailor/their parent or guardian if young.
the same, but different...

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Posts: 643 		Post Options Post Options   Quote patj Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 May 12 at 7:48am
The experience of the "safety cover" is also a big factor. I often find rescue boat people who haven't a clue about racing and how it works - either windsurfers or non-racing sailors. They are just there to tick off the duty and many don't know even where the wind is blowing from and getting a windward mark laid somewhere near true can be a nightmare. If they aren't instructed clearly by the officer in charge they will spend ages rescuing one boat, often losing track of what is happening elsewhere.
The officer in charge needs to factor in the capabilities of the safety crew as part of any decisions to cancel racing or general sailing.


Edited by patj - 08 May 12 at 7:52am
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zippyRN View Drop Down
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Posts: 437 		Post Options Post Options   Quote zippyRN Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 May 12 at 5:07pm
Originally posted by alstorer

At Grafham the safety cover is proffesional. The coxswain has final say. He can:

<snip>

3. make it "experienced sailors only"- not quite sure how this is decided or enforced though


 i can see that being interesting , i know of DIs who frankly can't sail  even to the level that you'd be expected to to get  a potential instructor  worthy level 5  and i know people who have no paper qualifications in sailing who can sail rings round the majority of people ... 

also what is'experienced'  sailors  qualifications, time on  the water., time in the class ?  ( would you turn round to a World champion  ( in a different class)  helm and his (winter training attendee  in a different class) 18 year old crew  who have put together as a scratch team up  to go for a sail   and say  'you aren't experienced enough as you've not sailed the class you want to go sailing in to day for X number of hours ? 
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Posts: 437 		Post Options Post Options   Quote zippyRN Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 May 12 at 5:02pm
Jim hits the nail on the head , in conditions where you know you'll NEED to have  the rescue boat crewed  you go for life and limb first, this means taking sailors off the boat and to shore , if you are on a lake  of 'none ridiculous'  size  leave the boats to drift or stick otherwise ideally anchor them and mark them ' in the way plod mark abandoned cars they know about - the symbol in orange sticky tape is a good idea  ).

arguably   without  something in club rules  the only decision the OOD / sailing secretary / person nominated by the committee can make  is yes we'll race or no we won't 
 when i was actively sailing   it's a fair split between times in  very wild conditions  between being the enabled and the enabler  in terms of rescue cover 

what is clear is  that a lack of preparation by the  OOD and team or reliance on other racers  stepping forward to provide 'proper'  rescue cover  because the OOD and team can't or won't  should not be acceptable and not be the norm -  this particularly  refers to the attire of the  assistant OODs if  they may be expected to undertake  rescue duties  i.e. one or both in dry bags or rubber   to be able to enter the water  to effect a rescue.
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Posts: 1076 		Post Options Post Options   Quote rogerd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 May 12 at 8:38pm
Originally posted by Rupert

You'll get older one day and want to carry on doing the things you love. I just hope that there are still people around willing and able to help you when you bite off more than you can chew. Surely it is why we join clubs and take turns at doing duties, and help out in other ways when we can, so we feel safe going out in conditions which may prove testing, knowing that there will be help if we need it?
 
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Posts: 3048 		Post Options Post Options   Quote jeffers Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 May 12 at 12:56pm
At Hunts the final decisions rests with the sailor as to whether to launch or not.

When I am on safety boat duties and a situation present me where the conditions are windy and someone is struggling I tell them they have X attempts before we pull them out.

Luckily Hunts is a small club and most of the regulars know their limits and those who 'give it a go' are happy to be pulled out at the safety boat helms say so.
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Posts: 452 		Post Options Post Options   Quote ham4sand Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Apr 12 at 11:55pm
thats interesting, in the cherub we are always having to heat it up downwind, no matter the wind strength, never had a kite collapse!
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AlexM View Drop Down
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Posts: 857 		Post Options Post Options   Quote AlexM Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Apr 12 at 7:41pm
It was an 100 Open at my club and the forecast put lots of people off so we only had 6 racing so it was easy for safety etc to deal with. I'll be honest, i wasn’t sure whether I should of been going out but once there it was great, really close racing even in those winds! One thing I found (which I should start another thread).. when going downwind in those sort of conditions i'm not sure the kite was needed? Heat it up and you'd have to bear away and it would go behind the main and collapse and it was next to impossible to keep it flying in the very windy stuff.
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Posts: 452 		Post Options Post Options   Quote ham4sand Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Apr 12 at 7:30pm
alexm, your club sounds wicked, barely any others did races round here :(
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Posts: 857 		Post Options Post Options   Quote AlexM Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Apr 12 at 7:20pm
At my old club we introduced a traffic light flag system at the top of the slipway to "advise" sailors of the conditions to avoid some of the situations experienced above. It seemed to work quite well. (Green - Conditions fine, Yellow - conditions fresh risk of capsize, Red - Extreme conditions only experience sails should attempt to go out)
Howling this weekend! We had 6 races over sat/sun max gust 42mph plenty of swimming! Great fun tho.
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