Traveling with an inflateble life-jacket

As an International Race Official I'm often travelling by air plane. It's hard enough to fit your gear into one bag and stay under the weight limit - and that's made harder because a lot of baggage handlers and air plane personnel don't understand an inflatable life-jacket with a CO2 gas cylinder.

It has been my experience a couple of times that I've been called into baggage handling areas, where I was asked to open my bag. The scanner found the cylinder and was flagged.
Usually it ended up me leaving the cylinder there, because the I was not allowed to take my bag on the plane otherwise. Besides being an inconvenience of having a life-jacket that wasn't functional at an event, it also meant I had to replace the cylinder every time and my own expense.

I always tried to explain that the cylinder wasn't dangerous, that it would not spontaneously open up and that I had detached it from the life-jacket itself, in the off change it would, that it only expell harmless CO2. And that the effing plane had hundreds of those cylinders on there own life jackets, under the seats......

No avail.

Lots of IRO take a non inflatable life-jacket because of this reason. But that is much bulkier and - to be perfectly honest - it is a drag wearing it, being three sizes to small for me.

One evening last week at the Delta Lloyd Regatta this subject came up during a jury discussion and one of the judges told us about a couple of papers she puts in the her bag together with her life-jacket explaining what it is and that it is allowed on planes by the IATA (International Air Transport Association).

I asked her to send me those papers so I could share them with you.

LINK: DGR IATA Table 23A CO2 Cylinder.pdf

The document contains the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations Table 2.3.A in five languages (English, German, French, Spanish & Russia) and a detailed description of the CO2 Cylinder (drawing and specifications). It seems to work if you print it and put the papers with your life-jacket. Even if your bag gets flagged, you have papers to show that it is allowed by the IATA on planes.

If you need to proof the legitimacy of the papers send the person asking, to this link:
http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/dangerous_goods/Documents/DGR_EN_53rd_Table-23A.pdf.

If you use it and are flagged, please share your experiences.
Thanks Christine, for sending me the papers.

Race Management Manual 2012

On the ISAF website I noticed the publication of the 'new' Race Management Manual and had quick look.

It is a whopper!

345 pages about Race Management, with subjects ranging from 'Dealing with the CAS, Crisis Management, Junior Sailors to Handling Misconduct and Dealing with the Media. A real big basic manual, covering everything, in first glance.

I'll be reading it in coming weeks - time permitting - and report back on interesting subjects, but it is already clear to me, that a lot of people have invested a lot of time to get it this extensive.

Illustration on page 335

If you are interested, you can download it on this page: RMManual2012.

Do me a favour, if you do and have read it, give me your tips on interesting parts....

I'm writing this post on Saturday evening, to be published on Sunday - after a day on the water. I was in Lelystad at the sailing centre of Team Heiner for stage 5 in their Match Race Winter series. Nice (and dry) sailing weather for the six teams participating. Tomorrow stage 6.

This means I will - in all likely hood - not be able to score the LTW 2012 Winter Challenge E 03/09 tomorrow. I did however publish the answers already - so you can have a look at what you fellow challengers wrote.

A hint, read rule 42 again and think about why you did not include that rule in your answer........ (save one)

Ohh, will the anonymous challenger who send me his/her answer already last Saturday, please tell me who you are? There are several possibilities and I hate to award a score to the wrong person.

Code of Conduct for IRO; The use of Social Media

On the ISAF website a couple of minutes of the annual conference were published in which I was particularly interested. I wrote about this already on Tuesday, 4 October 2011 in post ISAF November Conference 2011. On the agenda was a subject which has a direct influence on my ability to blog in conjunction with being an International Race Official.

Of the four subcommittees dealing with Race Officials - Race Officers, Judges, Umpires an Measurers - only two discussed the use of social media by IROs;

In the Minutes for the INTERNATIONAL UMPIRES SUB-COMMITTEE meeting on 05 November 2011 at the ISAF PUERTO RICO CONFERENCE this was noted:

(c) Code for the Use of Social Media
The development of a set of guidelines for the use of social media by international umpires during and outside events was discussed. Draft proposal made by Jan Stage will be presented to ROC with recommendation that ROC appoints a working party to develop guidelines of use of social media. Should ROC appoint a working party to work on this, Alfredo Ricci will represent the IUSC.

And in the Minutes for the INTERNATIONAL JUDGES SUB-COMMITTEE meeting on 06 November 2011 at the ISAF PUERTO RICO CONFERENCE the following was published:

(e) Charley Cook requested the development of a guideline for officials on blogging and using social media, balancing freedom of speech with personal interest and confidential information. A working party will prepare a draft for all ISAF race officials. 

The other two sub committees did not discuss this subject, or at least there's no mention of it in their minutes.

The Race Official Committee - under which these four subcommittees reside - has not yet published its minutes, so I don't know if this subject was discussed there.


I hope it was on their agenda, but fear that, if the same outcome as in the subcommittees was reached, only a working party was appointed. And you know what happens if it goes to a sub-sub committee working party. It will take six hundred years to get out again....


I've been working with a set of guidelines that were written by the chairman of a Grade 1 event, I went to last year, to have a little backing. But sometimes the line what to write and what not, is very blurry.

I hope this working party will at least publish something for this coming season, but fear it will take another year at least.
The guidelines that should come out, are not meant only for bloggers like me, but also for all International Race Officials who use Facebook, LinkIn, Twitter and all those other Social Media we have now. And according to my Facebook page - a lot of IRO already use them in abundance...


To all of them, I say: Next time you speak to your MNA's representative to ISAF, ask how things are progressing with these guidelines?

J.

Target Times at the WPIR

The Sailing Instructions at most events give a specific (approximate) time the races should last. Those are called: “Target Times” For some classes it is longer than for others, but in all cases it is the job of the RO on the course to set his/her marks so, that this time is accurate. There are unforeseen circumstance but with a constant wind speed and knowing the class these Target Times can be calculated.

Some time ago I was given the spreadsheets that do just that, for the Olympic Classes. They were made by David Cambell James. This is what he says on the first tab:

“ These charts have been developed to assist Race Officers in setting courses of the correct length to achieve target times as accurately as possible, they are only a guide and do not take account of tide or difficult sea conditions. It is assumed that the standard Olympic courses are used and set up using the “reference point” system with the reach leg at two thirds of the windward leg length and the final reach of 0.15 nm.

These charts will be particularly helpful to Race Officers who are unused to running races for a particular class as can happen when medal races are required. Race Officers experienced in a particular class may find the charts of less help.

The newest chart is the one for Women’s Match Racing which is difficult as target times and leg lengths are short and speeds can be inconsistent. We will continue to work on this chart.

The difficulties of producing these charts is increased for classes such as RS:X and 49ers where the hull moves into more of a planing mode between 8 and 10 knots with the corresponding increase in speed.

Included in the pack are two data collection sheets which can be used to check or adjust speeds included in the charts. By going to the overall speeds page any amendment of speed, measured in minutes per mile, will automatically update the relevant speed chart. If you have good speed data on a particular chart please let me know so that we can update the master sheets.   
I would like to thank Peter Baldwin for his help in collecting data and producing the charts.  Please contact me if you have queries, comments or any update information.   
David Campbell James “

The file: Target Times for Olympic Classes version 3 dated April 2011.xls

You can download this file and us it for you own races. It might need some adjustment for your particular courses and classes, but even for those who do not run Olympic Classes it should be a tool that can be used. You will need to start gathering data on your specifics, but with that you can fiddle with the numbers.

Ooh, don’t forget to give David your assessment or pointers to improve. His mail address is on the first tab as well.

I’m catching the 08:30 bus to the venue.

J.

AC 33 | Rules and explanations – part 5

When AC 33 match two was postponed again and again last Sunday, everybody was dreading the moment that the PRO Harold Bennett would have to pull the plug and send the boats back in. Fortunately the wind filled in and just before the cut-off time of 16:30 he was able to start the match. But it took some doing!

For those of you who haven't heard about the difficulties he faced and what happened, here are some excerpts from different sources:


Later in the evening Scuttlebutt came out with an extra edition with some astonishing news:

SCUTTLEBUTT EXTRA 3 - Sunday, February 14, 2010 (An update to supplement Scuttlebutt 3028 (and Extra 1 and 2)
SCUTTLEBUTT EXCLUSIVE - BENNETT RISES ABOVE RIFF

By Cory E. Friedman, America’s Cup analyst
Valencia, Spain (February 14, 2010) - By now many ‘Buttheads know that challenger USA 17 crushed defender Alinghi 5 in both races to win the 33rd America’s Cup. However, reliable sources tell Scuttlebutt that even when you thought it could not get any worse - it did. The defense club – Société Nautique De Genève’s (SNG) - had their Race Committee actually go on strike and refuse to start Sunday’s race ordered by ISAF approved PRO Harold Bennett. To begin the second race of the Match, Bennett was forced to draft Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) observer Tom Ehman and a Guardia Civil cop on board the RC boat and ordered them to run the flags as Bennett counted down himself.

 FROM SCUTTLEBUTT 3029

* From Thomas C. Price, Annapolis, MD:
I'm sorry but if what your Scuttlebutt Extra says is true, (SNG tried to manipulate the RC to their advantage) that calls for sanction by ISAF against Mr Bertarelli. This absolutely cannot be allowed to pass without resolution and it's clear that it's he ISAF who must resolve it! If true, no Alinghi team should ever sail a sanctioned event again! What a shame. After the awkward "Cumbaya" moment at the press conference, where the parties shook hands, this news is reprehensible.

* From George Morris, Inverness, Scotland, UK:
If the SNG race committee really did behave as described then this will surely require a Rule 69 referral to ISAF. If the RC members who refused to raise the flags are members of SNG then that club would surely be banned from holding any more yacht races and if they were acting on instructions from Alinghi then surely that team would be banned from all future competition. AC events are not quite the same thing as ordinary sailing club regattas but there is a point at which the two sports touch each other, and that is on the racecourse. If Alinghi attempted to fix the result by buying the race committee, then they have disqualified themselves from future competition. Tell me it isn't true.

From an interview with Harold Bennett in Sailingworld: The 33rd Americas Cup Lawyers, Guns and Money.

Harold, what happened on the boat when you tried to start Race 2? Is it true that the SNG members on the boat refused to perform their jobs?
We had a bit of a mutiny. I don't think SNG wanted to go, so they decided they weren't going to do flags. So Tom [Ehman, BMW Oracle Racing's head of external affairs] took the AP down and my boat driver, who's also an international umpire, he shot up forward and did the rest of the signals.

Does this stray into Rule 69 territory. Would you normal write a report for ISAF?
Yes I do have to and obviously that's going to be included in any report. That's what you do, you've got outline what's going on on the boat, whether it's good or bad.

What could've been their motivation? The wind was as light as it could get and still be stable.
We had a perfect breeze the way I saw it. I had good weather information from the Alinghi weather team. It was perfect, everything lined up, 8, 9 knots up the course. And it was like, well, let's do it.

Have you heard of a race committee at any regatta deciding they want to prevent the race being run?
No. Well I've certainly never experienced it. No. I've never heard of that before.

It has been a week since the match and some lively discussions have begun on the sailing forums. In this post I'll give you some of my personal notes and thoughts on this subject:
Lets have a look at the rules.

There's rule 85; Governing Rules

"The organizing authority, race committee and protest committee shall be governed by the rules in the conduct and judging of races"

And if you look at the definition of rules, they include: (g) any other document that govern the event.
Any, in the NoR, SI or other relevant document, regulated boundaries for wave and wind, become therefore rules according to the definition.


And rule 90.1;  Race Committee

"The race committee shall conduct races as directed by the organizing authority and as required by the rules."

There are no individual Race Committee members in the rules. The RC may consist of many people, doing different things, but in the rules they are all considered part on one ‘entity’, which is called the Race Committee.

The PRO/RO is responsible for everything his team does. If the mark boat has not recorded the rounding correctly – the RO gets the blame. If a flag setter on the committee boat doesn’t want to put up the flag, the PRO is the only one who can ‘fire’ him and find someone else to do the job.

The wave and wind limitations are part of the rules and should be discussed on the RC-boat. But in the end, only one person takes the decision - simply because it is his responsibility, and that is the RO.

If an individual RC-member does something that has an influence on the race – positive or negative - you cannot protest that individual. In fact, you cannot protest the RC at all. If you disagree with something that has happened because of the RC, the only thing you can do is request redress. And we all know that getting redress is not only depending on "The RC made a mistake or did not do something they should have done". There are other 'demands' before redress can be granted.

But if anything outside the rules in the RRS or the instructions in the NoR & SI is done by an individual RC-member, that has significantly influenced the results/score in a race or series, your only recourse is to request for redress. The Jury might find that you are indeed disadvantaged without any fault of your own and grant redress, but it cannot punish the RC as a whole nor the individual in question.

There is no provision in the rules to start an individual hearing against any member of the RC. You cannot disqualify a member of the RC. You cannot hold a rule 69 hearing against that person.

It becomes complicated if a connection between a competing boat and a RC-committee member can be found as fact. Then the Jury of that event can start a investigation and if appropriate start a rule 69 hearing, but only against the boat or persons competing, not against the RC-member.
An International Jury must be absolutely sure of the facts before it can decide in a rule 69 hearing against the competitor. And again, if appropriate, the Jury can only penalize the competitor, not the RC-member.

What about Interested Party?

The definition of Interested Party is only about a person who may gain or lose as a result of a protest committee's decision, or who has a close personal interest in the decision. The definition does not include someone on the race committee boat who has ties with a team or competitor.

Only when an actions or non actions influences the score in a significant way, and without any fault of the boat, that boat can request redress and get 'compensated' if necessary.

Since the match was sailed and the 'other' boat won, there's no redress possible.

That leaves only one rule.
That is rule 69.2; Action by a National Authority or Initial Action by the ISAF

When someone - RC-member, coach, parent, or anybody who has anything to do with the event - does something that could be a gross breach of a rule, good manners or sportsmanship, or might have conducted him/herself in such a manner that it brings the sport into disrepute, rule 69.2 gives the possibility to write a report and send it to the National Authority or to ISAF.

The MNA and/or ISAF can start an investigation and, when appropriate, conduct a hearing. It may then take any disciplinary action they think is appropriate against that person(s), team, or club.

Like Harold Bennett stated in the interview, a report will be send and the conduct of RC-members will be included. It is now up to the MNA or ISAF to decide what to do with that report.
Rule 69.2 gives them a choice. They may or they may not conduct an investigation and take this matter further.....

"¿Dónde están mis fresas?"

J.

Approved

The list of Race Officials successfully approved for ISAF International Race Official status in November 2009 has been published on the ISAF Race Officials microsite:
ISAF International Race Official Renewals And New Appointments For 2009

I had to re-applied for IJ this year and I'm happy to read that I was approved. You will have to bear with me for another four years. My group from the same first year (2005) started with 17 International Judges. Three Two have not re-applied or were not approved. That leaves 14 15 still hanging on. Keep it up!

In this post I also want to congratulate specially all those who were approved as an IJ, IU, IRO or IM for the first time this year. And of course to Chris, Adrian, Luigi, Angelo, Vic, Johannes, Jana, Angeline, Alan and Douglas; well done! Instead of worrying about tests and seminars, you can now start worrying about grouping and ISAF-appointments (Evil Grin)

Upcoming ISAF Seminars 2009

For International Judge:

21 Sep 09 - 23 Sep 09
International Judges Seminar, Uruguay
Yacht Club Uruguayo

For International Race Officer

25 Sep 09 - 27 Sep 09
Race Management Seminar, Austria
Austrian Sailing Federation, Neusiedl am See, Austria

02 Oct 09 - 04 Oct 09
Race Management Seminar, Argentina
Yacht Club Argentino, Buenos Aires - Argentina
23 Oct 09 - 25 Oct 09

Race Management Seminar, Belgium
Bloso SportsHotel - Ghent - Belgium

23 Nov 09 - 25 Nov 09
Race Management Seminar, Australia
Brisbane QLD, Australia

For International Umpire

07 Oct 09 - 11 Oct 09
International Umpire Seminar, Sweden
GKSS, Talattagatan 10, Langedrag, 426 76 Vastra Frolunda

18 Nov 09 - 22 Nov 09
International Umpire Seminar, Great Britain
Oxford Sailing Club, Great Britain

02 Dec 09 - 06 Dec 09
International Umpire Seminar, Argentina
Yacht Club Argentino, Buenos Aires, Argentina

ISAF International Race Officer Seminar; Belgium

My E-mail in box showed this message today:
________________________________________________________

Dear Friends, Race Officers,

I have some places left for the 2009 October International Race Officer seminar in Belgium in October 2009.
Can you forward the info below to interested parties such as your MNA, National Race Officers with international aspirations, friends, websites….
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION

From October 23rd till October 25th 2009 the VYF / Royal Belgian Yachting Association organizes the 4th ISAF International Race Management seminar in the Sportshotel in Ghent at the Flanders Sports Arena site.

This ISAF Race Official Seminar aims to improve standards of officiating around the world by increasing the number of officials qualifying for ISAF International Race Officer status. The seminar is followed by the official “ISAF-test” that allows applicants to formally apply for the ISAF-IRO status.

You can find all the information on the Belgian IRO seminar on the ISAF website through this link: http://www.sailing.org/26926.php
The entry form is available on http://www.sailing.org/Official_Entry__Form_1.doc
You can also download the event and social program on http://www.sailing.org/program.pdf
Attendance fee is between 60 and 200 euro depending on the chosen formula.
The ISAF instructors for this seminar are Tomasz CHAMERA (POL) and Ion ECHAVE (ESP).
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Thanks for your help in spreading the word
Good winds and
Kind regards,

Bruno De Wannemaeker
Sportmanager Topsporthal Vlaanderen

Benelux Race Officials Seminar 2009 | 2

At the seminar last weekend we were given a presentation about the interaction between the different Race Officials and how to gain an advantage with interacting better.

At any (major) event there are several Race official (groups) who need to cooperate to make it a success; Race Officer (committee), Judges and or Umpires and Measurers.

If you are a Judge or Umpire, what do you know of the responsibilities of the Measurer? If you are a Race Officer, when do you ask a Jury member if you have an issue. If you are a Measurer can you disqualify a boat without the Jury?

I must admit that I have a fairly good picture of what a Race Officer can and cannot do, but almost no idea about the obligations or rights of a Measurer. At the seminar we were asked to consider what we would need to know of the others to perform our own task better. Not only arriving at an event but well before. Not what you think "they" should know. But what you think you need from them....

It begins with having respect for each others work.
Then we all need knowledge about the responsibilities and rights of each group and knowledge about procedures the others follow.
Furthermore we need to check that the documents each group prepares don't have contradictions, like in the last Olympics. Each document must also be screened by the other groups to know the impact on each others work.
It is sometimes frustrating for a Race Officer to get a paper from the Jury on the first day amending several rules in the Sailing Instructions. It is equally frustrating to have to do protest after protest because the SI haven't been properly written. Do you always read the Class Rules before you go to an event?

ISAF has/will develop more interaction between the Race Officials using Internet. They already have streamlined and build consistency in the four groups, by making several requirements to become an international Race Official, general applicable. All four have a sub-committee which are guided by the Race Official Committee. All four must follow a code of conduct and all four represent ISAF. It will take some time, but it is on the agenda.

Perhaps it would beneficial to do an event helping in the group you are not familiar with? I wouldn't mind helping out a Measurement Team for an event to learn about there responsibilities.

How about you? Do you know enough?

.

ISAF International Race Official Renewals And New Appointments For 2008

Race Officials News (From the ISAF web site)

The list of Race Officials who have successfully been approved for ISAF International Race Official status in November 2008 has been published on the ISAF Race Officials microsite.

ISAF has a global network of over 650 ISAF International Race Officials who ensure fair and competitive racing at the world’s top sailing events. At the ISAF Annual Conference in November 2008, 53 applicants have been appointed ISAF International Race Official status for the first time, together with 166 successful applications for reappointment.

ISAF Race Officials fall into four disciplines: International Judges (IJ), International Umpires (IU), International Measurers (IM) and International Race Officers (IRO). ISAF International Race Official status is valid for four years (two years for Race Officials over 70), after which time Race Officials must apply to renew their International status.

On the recommendation from its four Sub-Committees, the ISAF Race Officials Committee makes the decision on renewals and new appointments each year during the ISAF Annual Conference. All the candidates for status must fulfil mandatory criteria and meet the high level of standard of competence for each discipline.

To view the list of renewals and new appointments for 2008 click on the links below:
- International Judges - 
- International Measurers
- International Race Officers
- International Umpires

ISAF Race Officials are the central part of one of the most important roles at ISAF. Without them, fair and competitive racing would not be possible. Right around the world ISAF has a network of over 650 International Race Officials who ensure fair racing at the world’s top sailing events.

In addition to the 53 first appointments and 166 reappointments made in November 2008, other appointments may be under consideration and may be still pending subject to providing additional information.

ISAF Race Officials microsite – www.sailing.org/raceofficials

 

Congratulations to all, specially those who have been appointed for the first time! I know how 'nail biting' the last couple of days can be. Hope to see you at an event.