I have been "listening" to this discussion for a few days. I think it is deplorable and disheartening to see that the "corinthian" spirit and "volunteerism" is disappearing from sailing.
I believe that most of us, if we race at all, race in mid-week "beer can" races where for most part the rewards are having fun, the post-race bbq, and occasionally bragging rights of winning a race or perhaps a series. My club used to use a 100% volunteer RC for the big boats Skippers (and other members of the club) were "arm-twisted" into signing up for one or two races during the season. Those skippers who volunteered time to act as RC for junior regattas (all day or multiple days) were exempted. No "reward" in terms of a replacement finish place was ever offered. (I should say that our "qualification" criteria in terms of % of races sailed is quite low so to miss a race is not catastrophic). I really liked this system and wanted it to continue as it gave all skippers experience on how difficult it can be to set a square line, read the forecast so that boats can finish before time limits, etc etc. Much less likely to criticize the the RC if you've done the job and made mistakes yourself!! However, a Race Chair (whose responsibility it was to set up the RC schedule, decided for two reasons to change the system. His first reason was that it took too much time to cajole / arm twist at the start of the season. Secondly, he felt that having very inexperienced PRO's each week, detracted from the quality of the racing (he is a high-performing racer who treated Wed night races as though they were national championships!). He therefore changed the system and hired a high-school sailing coach to act as PRO (other RC spots are still volunteer). The costs of the PRO are supposed to be covered this by a small levy to the skippers - but to my knowledge, the Club never sent out the bills!! So there are different ways to skin the cat. My preference - a fully volunteer RC staffed by skippers and some of their crew - with no artificial "race position" - but with a sufficiently low series qualification criteria to allow the lack of score in the missed race not to matter. -- Jonathan Indigo C&C 35III SOUTHPORT CT > On Sep 29, 2016, at 22:41, Martin 'Mac' McKenzie via CnC-List > <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > > At our club, each boat is assigned a night to do RC. If they do their night > they are scored their average for the series. If they do not show up the get > a non discarable DSQ. > > Mac McKenzie > Worthy Pearl > C&C 37 Toronto > _______________________________________________ > > This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you like > what we do, please help us pay for our costs by donating. All Contributions > are greatly appreciated!
_______________________________________________ This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you like what we do, please help us pay for our costs by donating. All Contributions are greatly appreciated!
