Forum: The Racing Rules of Sailing

Changing skippers in a short handed series

Haydn Rough
Nationality: Australia
Certifications:
  • Club Race Officer
Is it allowable for the entered skipper to allocate someone else to drive in a race of a short handed series?
Created: 23-Sep-01 00:34

Comments

Warren Nethercote
Nationality: Canada
3
Depends on the NOR.  If the entry is the boat and there is no other constraint on the person on board beyond RRS-required club or MNA membership then one warm body is as good as another.  But I'd bet that is not what the OA intended.  :-)
Created: 23-Sep-01 01:01
P
John Allan
Nationality: Australia
Certifications:
  • National Judge
  • Regional Race Officer
3
Firstly the RRS themselves don't refer to, or place any  restrictions on 'skippers' or 'helmspersons'.  The only reference to such a person is in RRS 46 PERSON IN CHARGE

A boat shall have on board a person in charge designated by
the member or organization that entered the boat. See RRS 75.

Nothing in this rule restricts changing  the person in charge either during or between races.

Any restrictions on changing the person in charge or helm need to be stated in the Class Rules, or NOR or SI.
Created: 23-Sep-01 01:08
P
Angelo Guarino
Nationality: United States
Certifications:
  • Regional Judge
  • Fleet Measurer
0
Haydn .. most short-handed events that I've seen expect that people will be doing multiple duties.  They are defined locally more commonly as "double-handed" where typically these 2 people are racing a boat normally crewed with 5 or more.

John brings-up Class Rules .. that's where "who can drive" rules are commonly found.  OA/RC's should be careful if the short-handed event is being done in One Design boats with a OD fleet-start, that driver-limiting rules are looked for and maybe changed, with a Rule 87 letter from the Class, to accommodate the intention of the event.
Created: 23-Sep-01 11:52
Richard Reitmeyer
Certifications:
  • Regional Race Officer
  • Club Judge
1
In the RRS it is the boat that is entered and scored. For singlehanded racing, you might find it inappropriate for the second place boat in a long series to hire a ringer to take the boat out for the final race.

The Singlehanded Sailing Society has this verbiage in its race documents:

  1. CREW LIMITATIONS
    1. Boats in singlehanded divisions shall have a skipper of one named person onboard who is the same person as is named in the registration or in the “persons on board” (POB) list.
    2. Boats in doublehanded divisions shall have a skipper of one named person onboard who is the same person as is named in the registration or on the “persons on board” (POB) list, and may have a second named person onboard.
      1. For “Bay” races the second person should be the same person as is named in the registration.
      2. For “Coastal” races the second person shall be the same person as is named in the “persons on board” list.

And then in the scoring section:

  1. SERIES SCORING
    1. There are two series: Singlehanded and Doublehanded.
    2. For the purposes of series scoring and awards, a “boat” is a unique skipper first name, skipper last name, boat name and sail number as entered into <scoring program>. (e.g., if the same boat is sailed with a different skipper in different races, each skipper + boat combination will be scored separately.)

The wording a bit longwinded, but might get you started if you're looking for some language. Note that the rules are doing double duty here. In addtion to blocking last-race ringers, the first ensures the OA knows who to call if a boat is overdue, and the second smooths computer scoring of a long series that has had hundreds of boats race at least one event.


Created: 23-Sep-04 00:29
Haydn Rough
Nationality: Australia
Certifications:
  • Club Race Officer
0
Thank you for the helpfull advice and information. Much appreciated
Created: 23-Sep-04 02:16
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