Multiple-Starts Sequence

5-4-1-Go is great for dinghy opens with a long line and lots of boats, but our twice-a-year RO's fret over getting it + flags right, and more importantly it makes the total sequence appreciably longer than the old 6-3-Go, wherein the starts could be just 3 minutes apart instead of 5. We have race time limits of 13:00 and 17:30, and later-starting classes would appreciate more racing time, which the 5-minute start-spacing currently eats into.

Three minute starting sequence/cycle was never in the RRS:  it was always a local SI adaptation.

In the winter we move to 3-2-1-GO (4 fleets) as we have so many boats taking part. We moved to the system as it cuts down the time starting the all the fleets, especially if we have any general recalls. The courses we have are ave. lap (on the water committee boat start) so if we had a longer sequence boats may start coming through the line while others are starting (we have just adjusted our S.I’s to include a lapping line on the other side of the committee boat to prevent this). I've been the RO and find it fine, it is an intense 12min of a hooter going off every min with a flag movement but nothing a few people can’t handle.

The issue you may have with 6-3-Go is if you need to use black/I/Z flags as you've lost the one minute time signal so you'll also have to amend rule 30 or rely on competitors to know when the last minute before the start is without any signal. With 3-2-1-Go you have all the normal signals as a 5-4-1-Go just in a shorter time frame.

Originally posted by Medway Maniac Thanks for the replies - very helpful and encouraging. I hadn't considered inserting  2-1 hoots, but was taking on board your comment, Jim, about the number of flags, when I realised it is the same number of moves as 5-4-1-Go, just without the long gap between 4 and 1 when the RO and ARO  get engrossed in conversation before panicking when remembering the 1 ! Then again, everyone uses watches these days if they're serious, so  6 & 3 minute signals should suffice, I'd have thought. I guess we'd retain the 5-4-1-Go for bigger, all-classes races, so that our members should become bilingual