It's all very well following the exploits of the RYA's Olympic and Youth Squads, and they are a great source of national pride. But what about a bit of support for the common sailor? It was these very criticisms of being elitist that have led to the RYA thinking of new ways of disseminating their coaching and training expertise more widely throughout the dinghy sailing scene.
I had a good chat with the RYA's coaching development manager Alan Olive who, with some keen national class representatives, has set up the Race Coaching and Training Group (RCTG). Chairman William Jeffcoate from the Scorpion class outlined the Group's aim. "Its job is to see how much could be done to help improve the racing skills of people sailing in clubs and non-squad dinghy classes across the country. While many people sail simply for fun and don't particularly want to get any better, there are a lot of others who get their pleasure from competing, and would dearly like to win more often.
"The question is whether enough training opportunities are made available to them, and how much the RYA could do to help. The RYA is well aware that many people ‘out there' regard it as an elitist organisation, with little relevance to the ordinary club sailor, and this was one of the factors underlying the choice of the founder members of the RCTG. They are all active in racing non-squad dinghies and one or two, at least, are definitely not RYA-apparatchiks, but more from the poacher-turned-gamekeeper mould."
Aside from William and Alan, other members of the Group are Jennie King from the Merlin fleet, Pete Vincent from the RS classes and Ray Griffin, now chairman of the Team Racing Group. Alan Olive says the nice thing about starting a new organisation is that you have no baggage, so you can start with a clean slate.
Training Day
So the Group started by putting together a detailed questionnaire and sending it out to clubs and classes to ask them what they wanted. With over 200 responses, there were some interesting trends to come out of the questionnaire. For example, fewer than 30 per cent of clubs and classes ran regular race training for adults, and yet over 70 per cent felt there should be more. This seems to reflect the findings of the Musto Skiff questionnaire on which I reported earlier this year, where there was a big call for more class training, and where the class has responded by incorporating two days of training into its World Cup at Garda.
The other finding from the RCTG questionnaire was the need for greater understanding of the Racing Rules and race management. "Rules were definitely a common problem," says Alan. "People either don't know enough about the rules or find themselves inhibited by other sailors shouting rules at them on the water." Part of the RCTG's aim will be to find ways of simplifying these issues and explaining them in terms that club racers can relate to. Rather than trying to learn all the rules all at once, Alan thinks it is more effective for club sailors to focus on four basic principles which underpin the rule book:
- Proper course
- Keep clear
- Giving room
- Avoid collision
Once you understand these basic points, you can begin to study the rules in greater depth. He is currently working on an RYA CD which will help explain the racing rules in this simplified fashion.
As for development of club- and class-based race training, the RCTG is initially focusing on two national classes and two sailing clubs to come up with a formula for success. "We have started the process with Notts County SC," he says. "But we're not looking to give them the answers, more of creating a process that gets people working effectively together." He emphasises that the RYA is not seeking to preach a certain approach, but rather is encouraging club officers to ask the right questions of themselves. "My great belief is that it is the active individual that will make the difference. The RYA can talk till they're blue in the face, but it's what certain people do at club or class level that will really make the difference." He cites the Optimist class as a great example of what can be achieved with dedicated and organised administrators running training programmes that motivate and inspire the sailors to develop themselves.
Of course, the adult classes tend not to have their parents to help run their sailing for them, and it puts the onus back on the sailors themselves to get their training programmes organised. But from talking to Alan, it sounds as though there are some basic coaching and race training principles that could really transform many sailors' enjoyment of the sport, if they can just find a way of spreading the message more widely. It is great that the RCTG is addressing on this issue, and I look forward to seeing more clubs and classes focus on ways of enthusing their members with inspiring coaching and training programmes.
Rules Reversal
Talking about the racing rules, you remember the pasting that RS700 sailor Alan Mackie got in the Letters Pages of this magazine last summer? It stemmed from a chat that I had with an Aussie 18-foot skiff sailor who believed the windward/leeward rule should be reversed, with a beating boat giving way to boat on a downwind leg.
When Alan suggested there might be some merit in the idea, he was met with a barrage of opposing opinion, not to say abuse. After all, there are some immutable laws of sailing that we have all come to take for granted - starboard has right of way over port, for example, and windward boat gives way to leeward boat. It's always been that way, and that's the way it should stay.
Not so, according to rules guru Bryan Willis. As recently as 1959, Bryan says the windward/leeward rule in this country was actually the reverse. Amazing as it may seem now, there was no global rule book for sailing back then, and the Americans had an alternative interpretation of the windward/leeward rule (the one we now use). Eventually, the great and the good came together and hammered out a document that became known as the Vanderbilt Rules, which formed the basis of the Racing Rules we use today.
So to those who pooh-poohed Alan Mackie's idea of inverting the windward/leeward rule, his idea is not without precedent. This latest debate has really only arisen since the arrival of asymmetric spinnaker boats. Their proliferation has created a new set of problems that the Racing Rules don't seem to resolve adequately. Richard Langford of Noble Marine, the insurance company, drew my attention to a club racing incident between an RS400 and a Finn.
The RS400 was coming downwind on starboard with gennaker hoisted, the Finn coming upwind on starboard. The Finn helm had tacked, but having got his feet tangled up in the mainsheet, was busy with his head in the boat trying to uncoil the mess. The crew of the RS400 did not see the Finn approach them due to the gennaker obscuring their view to leeward. Bang, collision!
Trying to work out the rights and wrongs of such a case is never easy. Clearly the RS400 is in the wrong on the basis of Rule 11 (the windward/leeward rule), and Bryan says there may be a case for arguing both boats have infringed Rule 14 (avoiding contact). Bryan points out that there is no rule saying you must keep a look-out, but that if you don't do so you are in danger of breaking a Racing Rule.
However, Bryan believes the Racing Rules as they stand are adequate to deal with these situations. I disagree. I think all boats should be required to keep a look-out for impending danger, regardless of whether they have right of way or not. And it should be compulsory for the leeward boat to hail "windward boat" or something of that order, to warn the approaching boat of their presence. It is scary to recall the number of times I have seen a boat appear around the front or back of the 49er gennaker, with no warning that they were there. A simple hail can make a world of difference. I call it self-preservation.
Blind justice
Perhaps this can be addressed in the next major revision of the Racing Rules. In the meantime, we are faced with this ongoing problem which, from discussions with Bryan Willis and Richard Langford, crops up on a regular basis. I know we have discussed this issue at length in the past, and if you find yourself beginning to yawn, then what Bryan had to say next, may just make you sit up and take notice.
By the way, if you don't know Bryan, then suffice it to say he has been chairman of the jury at the Olympics and the America's Cup, and he also works as an arbitrator in settling marine insurance disputes, both at pond sailing level and at commercial shipping level. So his advice is worth listening to.
He refers back to the Finn/RS400 incident: "Supposing there had been not just a collision but serious injury, and it was a £400,000 claim, now you'll get people trying to blame everybody." In this instance, Bryan believes it would be easy to argue that the RS400 sailor had been negligent in not being able to keep a proper look-out. "Let's take an analogy. Imagine driving your car with the whole of the left side of your windscreen and all the windows blanked out. You might get home alright, but if you had a collision with another car you'd have a hard time trying to tell the police it wasn't your fault."
So Bryan's solution: "I would suggest these boats have transparent sails." But what if you're racing a strict one-design like the RS400 where you can only use what you're given? "Then the class could be targeted for negligence, or the race organisers targeted for running two types of boat on that course, or the manufacturer targeted." By ‘targeted', Bryan means that these parties would not necessarily be held to be negligent, but that lawyers might well explore these areas as avenues of opportunity. It's a scary scenario for all concerned.
So class manufacturers such as RS, Laser and Topper might be well advised to explore the possibilities of transparent foot panels for gennakers, or in recutting the sails with higher clews. For sailors in development classes like the Cherub or the 14, the responsibility presumably falls upon the sailor, as he can always choose an alternative sail design if he is not satisfied with the levels of visibility from his existing gennaker. Just what the practicalities of making see-through gennakers are, I don't know, but it's a discussion I'll certainly be having with sailmakers over the coming months.
