Wednesday Night Race Officer

Race Officer for Wednesday Night Racing

Wednesday Racing Guidelines

1.      For each Wednesday night race, the Race Officer (RO) verifies time of sunset and finishes racing at least 30 minutes minimum before sunset: give sailors time to sail to buoys, derig and get a taxi ride back to the dock before dark. The goal is to NOT have taxi boat operating and sailors behind pick up in the dark.

2.      We use the “Gopher” taxi boat system to expedite delivery to sailors to and from boats:

• Two safety boats are set up for all Wednesday nights
• One boat is assigned to the scheduled SB skipper
• The second boat is rigged and is be used by a first-on-the-scene volunteer (the Gopher) who can be recruited to help taxi as needed
•  The volunteer Gopher helps with taxi service for a few limited runs. As the 6:30 start time approaches, when there are two or three sailors remaining to be taxied, the Gopher returns to the dock to get a ride out from assigned SB skipper for that evening
• The second safety boat is left rigged at the dock during races
• After races are finished, the first racer who is taxied off the lake takes a turn as the Gopher taxi and helps others get to the dock using the second safety boat

3.      Committee boat is set up and used by the RO for all Wed night races

4.      The RO is expected to and highly encourage to bring and assistant

5.      The RO is asked to help taxi after dropping equipment at the dock.

6.      Wednesday night races use a “short/medium” course length: the first upwind is timed to be approximately 5 minutes and the total race time is about 20 minutes total for the lead sailors. Dog leg finishes and a generous off set length are the norm.

7.      Written Wednesday night guidelines are emailed to the RO/safety boat teams.

8.      Written guidelines are posted in the shed.