Mullingar Sailing Club

index

3.0 Starting the Race

The more boats in a race the longer the start line will be and you will have to commit to a starting position at any earlier stage. This may involve checking the line a number of times in the final minutes. At club level you could still potentially start at any point on the line making the decision less then a minute before the start. This time could stretch out to 3 or 4 minutes depending on the event.

Countdown	Events.	Time
	Warning Signal :	5 min.
	Preparatory Signal : Synchronise your watch.	4 min.
	1 Minute	1 min.
	Start Signal	Go

Time : Call the time to your Helm.
From the 5 min. gun call out the time every 20 second.
From 2 minutes. Call out the time every 15 seconds.
From 1 minute call every 10 seconds.
From 30 seconds call every 5 seconds
Countdown the last 10 seconds.

Look out for Black flags this will be flown at the Preparatory signal and will be removed at the 1 minute. Once this flag is removed if you are “on course side” between then and the start you will be disqualified from that race and all subsequence restarts of that race.

Being aware of what’s around you :

Your Helm while in control of the main sheet and tiller will not have the same amount of manoeuvrability as you and will be firstly concentrating on the direction the boat is going. A crew should be advising their Helm on what is going on out of their line of sight, especially on port tacks, were you should be calling starboard tackers which might be on a collision course.

Sheeting the jib :

Sheeting the sails off the start line should be an action preformed together by the crew and helm. By sheeting the jib before the main it will bring the boat away from the wind. By sheeting the jib too slow after the main it will force the boat to luff up Head to wind. By sheeting at the same time it will lessen the amount of rudder that has to be used to steer the boat, moving the rudder will slow the boat.

Calling the start line : Where is the start line.

In large fleets when approaching start line you may only see one end of the start line. The helm being in a position slightly further aft is in a worse sighting position.

The pin end of the line is the easiest end to see before the start sail behind the committee boat line up the committee boat and the pin end and take a transit on the shore when starting you can line up pin end and your transit to know where your start line is.

By doing this you will soon become used to tell the position of the start line be judging the angle between the start mark the wind and your boat.