Race management is a two way street

Australian Sailing Editorial, February 2011

I was at all three of the Sail Down Under regattas just before Christmas, so I could observe the event management very closely. Most of what I saw I liked. But you don’t have to be sick in order to get better.

Firstly, a word to competitors. Sailing is a very difficult sport to stage. Wind, wave and weather conditions are completely out of the control of race management. There’s no point bitching about it.

There was an interesting example at Sail Melbourne when racing was completely abandoned on Day Three. When sailors arrived at the yacht club, the wind was blowing at around 30 knots, making it unsafe to race. There was a window of lower winds from around midday, but gale force winds were predicted to arrive at 2pm.

PRO Ross Wilson considered the forecast and announced the abandonment just after 11am, allowing the sailors to go home and rest. It was an inspired decision because an analysis of wind patterns later showed no racing could have been held. But there were grumbles and groans from some of the sailors.

It is always interesting to see which competitors grumble the most. True champions like Malcolm Page, Tom Slingsby and Nathan Outteridge might express an opinion, but it’s always done politely. It’s usually the “wanna-bees” who jump up and down the most. Lesson – if you want to be a champion, act like a champion.

Unfortunately, this summer has been notable for some poor behaviour by race officials too.

At Sail Sydney, the Queensland team lodged a protest against an official for abusing one of their sailors. The response: “Yeah, he always has a short fuse.” If he has a short fuse and abuses the sailors, he shouldn’t be out there!

A more serious breach occurred at Sail Melbourne, and this was an incident when neither competitors, coaches or officials covered themselves in glory.

Briefly, a large number of Laser sailors and their coaches were getting ready for their race and had drifted into the 420 course. They were asked to move, and some did. However, according to the protest that was lodged “the majority paid no attention to the instructions”.

This is a big black mark against the competitors and especially against the coaches. There are rumblings that coach boats should be banned from the course - coaches, your future is in your own hands.

However, the biggest black mark is against the jury members. A jury boat raced into the area, made a sudden turn to avoid a Laser rafted up to a coach boat, and a jury member fell out. He was injured and had to be rescued.

Now, there is no doubt that the competitors and coaches were in the wrong. Something needed to be done, to show them their behaviour was unacceptable. But the decision of the jury was farcical:

All Laser Standard Boats have to perform 5 two turn penalties in front of the Clubhouse 60 minutes before their racing is due to commence on 15 December and to hand in a letter of apology to the competitors at the sign on desk before racing commences on 15 December. Whilst the Jury can take no action against the coaches it would be considered as good manners if they handed in a letter of apology to the competitors and race committee at the sign on desk before racing commences on 15 December.

Did they seriously expect the International Sailor of the Year, along with other international competitors like Nick Thompson of Great Britain and Josh Junior of New Zealand to write a letter of apology, like naughty schoolboys, when some of them were not even in the area?
Shortly after the notice was posted, it was taken down and the official version became that it was “a joke”. If so, it wasn’t a very funny one.

These are extreme examples. In most cases, good sense eventually prevailed. But the point needs to be made.

Competitors and coaches, if you want good race management then do your bit. Register the correct sail number, stay out of the way of other classes and accept race management and jury decisions in good grace.

Race officials, we all appreciate the time you put in for little or no reward. But if you want to be treated with respect, show a little in return.

It’s a two-way street.

Roger McMillan - Editor

Australian Sailing and mysailing.com.au