5 minute read
Starter’s Box Starts
from Ahoy! June 2021
by Koko Mueller
WORDS: BRENDA DAVIES | IMAGES: DAVID NORTON
The St. James’s Place Sunset Series 2021 will be underway soon with racing on twelve consecutive Friday evenings from 4 June to 20 August. Races are started, and hopefully finished, at the Starter’s Box at the RHKYC Kellett Island clubhouse. In this article, I will run through the signals you can expect to see on the Starter’s Box and also where the starting and finishing lines are. It’s a bit different from the usual committee boat start/finish, so please read on…
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The Starter’s Box
This is the small white building on the harbour side of The Little Mermaid statue by the Chart Room. At the upper level, there are six slots for flag/course boards and also a white pole topped by a yellow triangle which defines one end of the starting/finishing line. A ‘digital style’ course board can be hung from upper deck structure. The race officer and team will usually be in the glass-fronted room at the lower level, with sound signals being made from the adjacent open porch. An extension of the white pole is located outside the lower level window – the race officer uses this to sight the line.
Location for ‘digital’ course board
Slots for flag/course boards White staff with yellow triangle = one end of the starting/ finishing line Course #1
Class flag W (warning signal) Flag X displayed – someone from the previous start is still OCS
Preparatory flag P
Sound signals from here Working area for RO, ARO and Results Officers
Starting Races
The course to be sailed will be displayed – at the latest by the warning signal – using either a black board with a white number inserted in one of the slots at the upper deck, or using a digital style course board suspended from the upper deck structure. This is the same type of course board which we have been using on the Club’s race committee boats for several years.
Next, the warning signal (5 minutes to the start) will be made by slotting in the class flag board, followed one minute later by displaying the P flag board in an adjacent slot. The P board will be removed at one minute before the start, with the class flag board removed at the start. The team will endeavor to make sounds (air horn hoots) with each of these signals – but if the sounds don’t happen, remember that the RRS 26 says to take your timing from the flags. Alternative flags to P could be used (I, U etc.) but this is unlikely at the Sunset Series. If there is an individual recall, the X flag board will be displayed (+ 1 sound), and for a general recall, the First Substitute flag board will be shown (+ 2 sounds).
So what might this look like…?
Course 1 is the chosen course. As both class flag W and flag P can be seen, both the warning and preparatory signals have already been made – and it must be less than 4 minutes but more than 1 minute until the start. The X flag is also showing – so there must have been someone OCS in the previous start and they have yet to return to the pre-start side of the line. The X flag will remain displayed until the OCS boat comes back or for a maximum of four minutes. It is then removed so that it is ready to use if someone is OCS in the next start.
The Starting and Finishing Lines
The sailing instructions will define the starting/finishing marks and lines. Please read the SIs carefully so that you know what the race officer will be using to call the line. The 2020 St. James’s Place SIs stated: For the starting and finishing line marks, the Outer Distance Mark (ODM) will be an orange inflatable buoy with a white jacket laid to the north of the RHKYC Kellett Island clubhouse. The Inner Distance Mark (IDM) will be an orange inflatable buoy. The starting line will be between the white staff with a yellow triangle on the starter’s box and the course side of the ODM. Boats shall start by passing between the IDM and ODM in the direction to the first mark of the course. The finishing line will be between the white staff with a yellow triangle on the starter’s box and the course side of the ODM. Boats shall pass between the IDM and ODM in the direction from the last mark of the course.
The IDM does not define the Kellett Island end of the starting/finishing line - this end is from the white pole with the yellow triangle on the Starter’s Box. If you use the IDM when judging your position at the start or finish, you run the risk of being OCS or not crossing the finishing line.
For example,
ODM
Direction to start
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Boat B
IDM
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Starter’s Box
The RO sights the starting line from the white staff with the yellow triangle on the Starter’s Box to the course side (right hand side) of the ODM. The IDM has been laid on the course side of the starting line. At the starting signal, Boat A is fine. Boat B is OCS.
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Direction to finish
Boat A
Boat B
IDM
Starter’s Box
The RO sights the finishing line from the white staff with the yellow triangle on the Starter’s Box to the course side (left hand side) of the ODM. The IDM has been laid on the course side of the finishing line. Boat A has finished but Boat B has not. Boat B must continue sailing until her hull crosses the finishing line. If she turns away from the finishing line from her current position, she will be scored DNF.
