TAKING ACCURATE FINISHES

By John Slater

At the SAYRA race committee meeting in January, a horror story was told about a race committee that failed to score a boat as having finished.  The boat requested redress, and when the committee went back to the tape recording to reconstruct the finish, they found so much extraneous conversation that they couldn’t hear the person calling boats at the finish.  Nothing angers a racing skipper more than a race committee that screws up the scoring of a race.  Therefore, nothing a race committee does is more important than accurately taking finishes.  There are several things you can do to help produce an accurate list of finishers.

Make sure the finish line is the right length.  It should be long enough to allow boats to finish unimpeded, but not so long that the line sighter has trouble reading sail/bow numbers.  The US SAILING Race Management Handbook recommends 4-6 boat lengths.  Ten boat lengths might be reasonable depending on wind and sea conditions and on how tightly bunched you expect the fleet to be at the end of the race.

Organize the committee into a finishing team.  At a minimum you need a line sighter with a tape recorder and two paper/pencil recorders.  For a handicap event you will need to add a timer to the team.  For large classes or major events you might want to add a spotter.  If a spotter is used, his job is to help the line sighter identify boats that are approaching the finish line and to sort out finishes in heavy traffic. The US Sailing Race Committee Handbook suggests that, when finishing large fleets that you have a committee member on the anchored pin boat back you up by recording the order of finish from that vantage point.

Augment the team with audio or visual aids.  Tom Farquhar, the race management chair for US SAILING’s Race Management Committee says you can’t have too many tape recorders on the committee boat.  Having an audio recording-or a video recording is a great way to resolve uncertainties in the written record.  If you use a video camera be sure that it is securely tied to the finish line.

As the lead boat approaches the finish line, call for quiet on the signal boat.  Noise is the enemy of concentration, and the finish requires concentration from everyone.  (It may help for paper/pencil recorders to keep their backs to the finish line to avoid eye vs. ear confusion).  Tell the other committee boats that you’re about to take finishes, so they wont interrupt with extraneous radio transmissions.  Give a sound signal for the winner, if that is your tradition, but don’t use sound signals to mark the other boats’ finishes, because the additional sounds only add to the confusion.  While boats are finishing there should be no talking aboard the signal boat other than that necessary for scoring the race.

Call the finishing boats clearly.  In a one-design fleet that would only be the sail/bow number.  In a multi-class one-design race the class, sail/bow-number.  In a handicap race, it will include the class, sail/bow number and the time. (Calling the class should NOT be done any time that the class is unclear or that boats are finishing too close to write that down. The class can be added later, or sorted out by the computer).  Here is what you should hear in a multi-class regatta: “Stand by (Flying Scot) 4865.  The instant the boat crosses the line, the line sighter says “Mark”.  If handicap scoring is in effect, the timer calls the hour and minute after hearing “Standby (Flying Scot) 4865” and adds the seconds  after the “Mark”.  If finishing conditions allow the timer then repeats the time.

The paper/pencil recorders write down (class) sail/bow and time producing an order of finish that starts with the first boat to finish and ends with the last.  Once all the boats in the race have finished the recorders, or the computer scorer, can sort the finishers into their respective fleets.  The recorders should start their log at the top of the page and work their way down.  As each boat finishes and is logged, go to the next line.  Do not attempt to organize by class as you record finishes as if one boat is missed but later on is able to tell you who was ahead or behind them you have a better chance to figure where they are in the finish order.

The recorders then should compare their score sheets and confirm by the tape recorder or the finishes from the pin boat if there is a discrepancy.  They should then reconcile the number of starters with the finishes unless they have been notified of boats retiring.  Another important fact to record at the finish is the time of the first finisher as well as any other times that are relevant per the sailing instructions.  The recorders should also note any flags observed on boats at the finish and log accordingly.

If it is possible that another committee boat might be taking finishes, make sure before it leaves the dock that it has the necessary equipment and personnel on board. Check for any required flags (“S” and a Blue) paper and pencils, tape recorders and a sound signal.

Following the procedures outlined above should lead to fewer scoring errors, better race management and happier competitors.