DaySailer.org Forum

Yesterday for the first time I served as Day Steward for our club race. I have served on race committee a handful of times, mostly running the safety boat to set marks where instructed, etc. I have never been solely responsible for deciding where and how to set the course and otherwise run the race. Our club is mostly Flying Scots and Sunfish - I'm the only one with a DS who occasionally races that in the Open class (I usually race my Sunfish). I'll add we run low key races - in my 3-4 years I've never seen an argument, protest or collision. I speculate that all understand we are out there for fun and not to win money, it's all volunteer, and even if you can point to a rule that says you are right - don't ruin someone's boat/day/interest in being there - ease off and/or tack and go catch them, and perhaps chat about it later.

As frustrating as it can be as a club racer dealing with wind lulls and shifts and waiting for wind to fill in at he lake in the AM, it is exponentially more so as Day Steward. I had several good forecasts for a NNW wind and clear skies, and wind on shore seemed from the north, but I got the committee pontoon boat out onto the lake to find cloud cover and a decidedly E wind. At lunch afterward I joked with club member X that in hindsight I should have set my windward-leeward course in line with the NNW wind forecast as he would have done and dared the wind to defy me. Instead I waited a bit, deployed the windward mark and offset mark to accommodate an ENE wind, and then held off setting the leeward mark and the start for awhile to try to let the wind fill in more and settle into some sort of pattern. Eventually I shifted everything west to set a NE-SW course as big as I could in a small area and made it work. After race 2, we finally got the NNW that was forecast, so I had the safety boat go shift and stretch the course out to the bay that was now available and gave the Scots in particular a good third race. Hindsight Plan B would have been to go have lunch at 10:30 AM and start racing at noon when the wind finally behaved itself. But it just as easily could have gone away for good.

I wanted a good, fair and worthwhile course and race. I think I accomplished mostly fair, mostly good enough, and shorter races than ideal but not a waste of time. Perhaps the best bonus is we had 4 members who have never served on race committee out there observing how its done, helping, learning, and hopefully seeing that racing isn't as scary as it seems. They may have learned that they don't want to be Day Steward anytime soon on our lake though...

As a racer (whether in a beer-can style event with my DS, or on "big boats" in more rule-bound events) I appreciate all the time and effort put in by the race committee. All the more power to you if you can handle challenging winds while still having a good time and training new people.

Our fun races are held in an area that is really limited as to what courses you can set (also given the number of boats, etc.). Usually it ends up with some sort of triangle. And the wind refuses to line up with the major axis of it in any way...

Being after hours, there's really no way to postpone a race, or to try to fit in more than one, you simply have that single shot at it.

As a result I've sailed races where every single leg was a reach or every single leg was upwind. (Both of these scenarios require wind shifts, of course).

Were they fair? No, but then the race is "no-handicap, no classes" so fairness is relative. Were they fun? Well, they must be, because the turnout regularly reaches triple digits. But even the most low-key event depends critically on those who volunteer to organize it. My hat's off to them.

What lake is it?

Lake Arthur, Moraine State Park. We have a handful of Daysailers on the lake but I haven't convinced them to come race, yet.

Greenlake I'm trying to imagine the logistics of a race with 100 boats. From many marinas I presume? Our ramp gets pretty busy with the main Scot race that maybe draws 20 boats. Back in the day it was twice that I understand.

You are correct about the many marinas. The race is not tied to a location on land at all. The committee boat will show up, some other designated boats drop the marks on their way in to the race (and pick them up afterwards if they haven't disappeared). Everyone just comes in from wherever they have their boat stored, some motor quite a ways. The lake my be dozing quietly in the late afternoon sun, then you see a few masts, and suddenly, before you know it, there are sails everywhere, and boat coming at you from all sides. Great fun.