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 Regatta Competitors - What To Expect(Updated: 2008.06.20 09:31:39 AM) |
What to expect if you are sailing at a regatta in Kingston
Photo: Miranda Beninger
This page serves to provide general information for first-time competitors who come to Kingston for a sailing regatta.
For details specifically related to sailing, see the regatta competitors home page.
Background
What's written here is general, and may or may not reflect the some of the conditions of your particular event.
Always read your Notice of Race and your Sailing Instructions because what you read here means nothing.
Kingston hosts a variety of regattas each year which have differing scale, stakes, and safety considerations.
- Scale: You could be here for a 10-boat event with the whole harbour to yourselves, or you might be one of 120 boats in a class that is part of a larger 600-boat multi-class event. The scale of the event will certainly dictate what you'll be facing here, and determine what's expected of you.
- Stakes: Generally speaking, the larger the stakes, the tighter the rules and procedures of the regatta.
- Safety: Always a concern, there's just no cutting corners here, and no excuse for not being aware and following what's proscribed in your NOR and SI's.
Here are some of the things that might be specified in your Notice of Race or Sailing Instructions.
Inspection and Measurement
Typically this depends on the regatta stakes.
- Typically all boats are expected to meet class measurement expectations.
- Sometimes a formal pre-regatta measurement is required.
- Sometimes inspections and measurement can happen while the regatta is underway.
Launch
Typically regatta launch procedures depend on the regatta's scale.
- For small adult events, maybe you'll launch your own boat, when you want, end of story.
- For larger events, there may be a whole crew of volunteers to help things run smooth.
- You may be required to sail uniquely from a particular harbour.
- Some parts of Kingston Harbour, like other clubs and marinas, might be declared out-of-bounds.
- Launching may be at the direction and assistance of a launch crew. Obey, and wait your turn.
- If you are racing a keelboat, hauling out may or may not be permitted to keep things fair.
- As you sail out of the harbour, you may have to make your sail number evident to record-keeping volunteers at the harbour mouth.
Coaches
Depending on the scale and stakes of the regatta, coaches may...
- ...be required to register with the regatta office.
- ...be constrained in their interactions with competitors.
- ...be required to assist at the request of the Race Committee.
Coach Boats
Coach boats may...
- ...be required to display a flag.
- ...be constrained in location or activity.
- ...be required to assist for safety or other tasks at the request of the Race Committee.
- ...be required to accept garbage from lunches and snacks.
- ...or may not be permitted on-water.