Race Officer Duties

  • Confirm race day is a Handicap or a Scratch race day advise all sailors
  • Check the Handicap board is updated and all sail no’s are on the board
  • Advise all skippers to check their starting handicap
  • Clearly confirm the sailing course, the control area and Race #
  • Call for “Boat’s on the water “or “Back to start area “
  • Advise the Skipper who is to be the acting RO for the next race
  • Ensure the start device & results clipboard is in line with the start & finish line
  • Announce Start of audio countdown once all boats are in proximity of the start area
  • Record time of race start and number of Boat starters.??
  • Ensure you have a clear unobstructed view along the start line (see Diagram)
  • Announce “Clear Start“ or issue start call back (boat # recall) for particular boats or call a general recall for the whole fleet. 4 or more boats over is a general recall
  • Stop audio when countdown is complete or ask operator to turn it off
  • Announce Boat (no … contact no …) and Buoy contacts (boat No… contact with Mark) during the race.

  • ONLY THE RO CAN CALL BUOY CONTACT
  • Check Penalties are undertaken but leave Skipper to resolve who should do the penalty
  • View along the line the finishing boats and record the finishing order plus DNS (did not start), DNF (did not finish) and ensure the ROs sail no is recorded at the top of the results sheet for the race you have undertaken the RO role
  • Ask the 1 st place boat to call the sail numbers of the other boats finishing and record every time a boat crosses the line. Record the finishing time of the 1st boat.
  • Ask all boats that have finished to keep clear of the finishing line.
  • Record the time of the boat that finishes last or if the last boat has not finished it may be finished on the water.????
  • Count all boats that have finished the race, or did not finish, or were Disqualified as a check of the record.
  • Update the Handicap board according to the instructions on the handicap white board before handing over to the next acting RO
  • Announce who is the next RO, hand over the results sheet. Next RO to promptly remove his boat from the water to prepare and run the next race as displayed on the top of the Score Sheet shown on the daily entry sheet as they register.

NB 1. For the race missed due to RO duties the skipper is scored the average of their aggregate score for that day. This is automatically calculated in the HMS scoring spreadsheet.           
NB 2. PRO – Principal Race Officer – for club racing, duty list involves overseeing management of the whole days racing. Fleet Captain normally acts as the PRO

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