Seminar Report Bulgaria 2008

I received an Email from Bruno De Wannemaeker about the Seminar last weekend in Sofia. Thanks Bruno!

Hi Jos,

I write a small report in English so you don’t have to translate. I’m flying home from Sofia right now after a weekend of Rules, Procedures and finally the written test. We where with 16 participants from 10 countries:

1. Adrian Bauder SUI
2. Alexandru Micu ROU
3. Athanasios Papantoniou GRE
4. Bruno De Wannemaeker BEL
5. Caterina Gouleliou GRE
6. Dean Osavkov MKD
7. Dragomir Andonovic SRB
8. Iskra Yovkova BUL
9. Iulia Negoescu ROU
10. Luigi Cuccotti ITA
11. Petar Kaloyanov BUL
12. Plamen Georgiev BUL
13. Roumen Paunov BUL
14. Stanislav Kassarov BUL
15. Yoram Sharett ISR
16. Zsolt Regenyi HUN
    

Pat Healy (USA), Hans-Kurt Andersen (DEN) and Kamen Filljov (BUL) where the instructors of the IJ seminar and Stanislav Kassarov (President Bulgarian Sailing Federation) was the organiser. Most of u where staying in a nice, simple hotel Talinka and the courses where held in the World Trade Center on the other side of the road.

The seminar was focused around conduct of IJ, procedures to be followed and decision making in sailing protest. Some participants took the seminar for the second time after failing the first time last year in Istanbul. Being more a windsurfer then a sailor myself, I had prepared double for rules 42, 17 and 18 and sometimes Kamen and I could even help the instructors on specific items of Appendix B and A related to windsurfing………

The IJ test had 3 parts: First, 12 multiple choice questions with 1 to 6 good answers about part 2 racing rules. Second, 12 multiple choice questions with 1 to 6 good answers about procedures and protest hearings and finally 2 Protest cases. Based on a drawing and some declarations of sailors, we had to write out the facts, the conclusions and the decision we would make in case of a one man jury. There where some F*** Y** questions, but in the end I believe it really tested the knowledge of the candidates on most of the rules to be mastered.

I believe the instructors did a great job in preparing the students and hope that the rate of successful participants will be higher then ever before (normally around 30 %). I have been preparing for this seminar for 2 years with a lot of on the job training in Jury-panels, studying all possible clarifying rulebooks (Brian Willis, Dave Perry, Paul Elvstrom,….), all the ISAF and RYA cases, ISAF Q&A and looking up as much as possible quizzes about the Racing Rules of Sailing
(www.finckh.org , www.UKHalsey.com , www.speedandsmarts.com and http://rrsstudy.blogspot.com) on websites.

Besides this self-study I had a great group of Belgian and Dutch fellow students (Joep, Frank, Erik, Olaf,..) which whom we worked the past year to prepare. The Belgian/Dutch jury clinic last December with Josje Hofland and Leo-Pieter Stoel opened our eyes and really introduced us in the ISAF way of thinking. Also the clear structure Josje introduced was a big help.

E-mail is a fantastic tool to prepare and study. Whenever I got stuck or had questions I turned to some IJ friends and within 24 hours I received replies on my (sometimes stupid) questions.
A big thank to Frans Bolweg (NED), Ewan Mc Ewan (GBR), Elena Modesto (ESP), Andrus Poksi (EST), Jos Spijkerman (NED), Kamen Filljov (BUL) and Johan Devocht (BEL)…… Without them I would never have succeeded. Although we now have to wait 2-3 weeks before we get the results of the test, 4-5 people (Stanislav, Yoram, Adrian, Luigi,….me) felt very good after the test and even better after we went over the results. We will keep our fingers crossed.

Big thanks once more to the great instructors Pat, Hans-Kurt and Kamen. They also learned somethings. Like a port-end start mark, how to connect a beamer, “F***” is a normal word for non=native English, windsurfers have a better tie system then sailors. Also, Iulia is not heavy enough to be used as hooking strap for a star sailor, the need for a new kind of flagpole for the green “Change of course flag” in the 2009-2012 rules and how to deal with the dilemma: is it “meter” or “metre” …

Friday starts the seminar in Belgium which I’m hosting in Ghent. I look forward to work one more weekend with Pat Healy and Josje Hofland and the 17 participants for the seminar. If you let me, I will write a report about this second seminar next weekend as well.

All the best and good luck to the participants in the Belgian seminar.
Bruno De Wannemaeker