BSA sailors meeting - Weymouth

Minutes from 29 October 2016

Held in Spinnakers, WPNSA at 11.10 am.

Events next year

Date	Location
22/23 April	WPNSA Confirmed
13/14 May	Harwich TBC
24/25 June	Clacton TBC
8/9 July	Worthing TBC
2/3 September	Hayling TBC
23/24 September	Tenby Confirmed
28/29 October	WPNSA TBC

Organisers of Harwich want event in August - Bob has gut feeling not August, 2 reasons: Crew holidays and competitor holidays.
ALL: No comp in August, maybe go somewhere else if harwich can’t do May - maybe go to Harwich 2/3 September as some worry about weed at Hayling (was a problem this year at NWF).

Action: ? swop Harwich and Hayling around, Alan Cross will speak to Paul Simmons.
Clacton - Alan Cross negotiating with council, very much TBC so date may change.
Worthing - Date may change to make a bigger event with other disciplines. If its just us says as this date. Parking mentioned as a problem - possible plans to allow us to park on the grass area.
Clashes:
Worthing event clashes with Women’s Worlds and Men’s Europeans in South France.
April WPNSA event clashes with IFCA youth and masters.

Protests - brought up by Gerry Northwood

Suggestion that the protest comes ashore with that fleet and racing carries on with the other fleet

Tess happy with this as RO

Vote: all agreed

General Recall/Individual recall - discussion

? should we move sequence post general recall: too many questions at start boat, need to know who over early, won’t save much time anyway.

Vote to leave as it is - all agreed

Individual recall - perhaps in heats only, general recall in finals.

To be clear for Race crew: If they can identify numbers then its individual recall and the race continues - the possible interference from a sailor over early with another is considered to be part of racing and sailors cannot protest the sailor as he is disqualified but can apply for redress.

If the Race crew cannot see the numbers over early then it would be a general recall.

Concerns: How do individuals know they have made the final if several in front may be over early.

Paul Sibley suggested a sound signal for the sailors going to the winners final - if 2 sailors come over the finish together then it is their responsibility to go to the finish boat to check who goes through.
The finish boat will also fly the individual recall flag so that sailors know that there will be some individuals not going through to winners final.

Race crew maybe work on the timing to give the time to call the finish boat with the disqualified sailors - this is more of an issue on the rough/windy days and small delays are not an issue for the sailors as there is plenty of time to get good racing in.

Sarah Sibley has volunteered to be on the shore with a radio to aid comms for the sailors especially in those locations where the course is a long way from race control.

Summary: individual recall in heats, general recall in finals. start boat to inform finish boat of individual recall and finish boat to fly individual recall flag. Finish boat to use a sound signal for sailors who will advance through to the winners final. If 2 sailors go over together they must go to the finish boat to find out who will advance.

Vote: all in favour of the changes. Suggestion was to try and see if it works for the Race crew as well.

Flags:
On Boat: get rid of orange flag - its confusing and not necessary - start boat to put up class flag only and that class flag becomes the definition of the end of the line.

Vote: all agreed

Event promo

Mike: for comms to general public so that people know what is happening. Pete to do if possible or anyone who knows whats happening please have a go.

Sponsors flags: Please put up as many flags/brands as possible to advertise the event - make it look exciting and like something is happening - good for video and photos and therefore good for sponsors.

Video: Garry Connell asked if there was to be an event video in the future. Pete explained why he hadn’t done one for the whole event this year, 2 days work at event and at least another day in post edit. He asked for a free entry for Zara Davis but committee decided that a lot of people volunteer and didn’t want to set a precedent but reassured Pete that they valued the video.

Dave White said that he got a free entry to the wave events for taking the photos. Paul Sibley suggested that Pete got paid same as Race crew currently £25/day for the days worked.

Vote: all agreed

Continuing on the video theme - Kevin Greenslade proposed a video on the start boat for sailors development.

Tessa Ingram: worried about this, RYA has used before and created havoc in protests and undermines race crew.

James Dinsmore: we accept that in sport the referees sometimes get it wrong and the video would not be used for protests and would only be released later (maybe some used for the promo video) and that there could be no sound and potentially no flag so that actual time of the start could not be seen on the video but sailors could see where they lined up against their competitors.

All agreed we would like it as a training tool but don’t want to undermine the race crew - Tessa Ingram and crew to discuss and let us know their decision.

Women’s Scoring
Zara Davis asked if the women score could be brought out of the mens amateur fleet. Problems for Mike George, the scorer as loads more work and would then need to pull out masters, youths etc… and its only a small issue if women happen to compete at different events where there are a large difference in the number of amateur men.

All agreed that we would leave the system unchanged.

Average Points
Brought up by David White - currently sailors can claim average points for an international event that clash with a BSA event 1x a year.
That international event needs to be a genuine event such as IFCA, world champs etc…
David White was asking than consideration is given to other events - such as an event that he would have to attend to promote the sport but that it wasn’t a genuine international competition.
Suggestion that there could be an application to the committee for these type of events and they could be considered on an individual basis. Bob Ingram not happy with this and requested something in black and white. There needs to be care as otherwise its another discard for all.
Committee could have guidance that if a sailor attends an international event as a competitor or organiser they would get average points - this would be decided by Bob Ingram, Mike George and Pete Davis.

Vote: all agreed

James Dinsmore brought up how much overlap between and international event and BSA event should be allowed and how much notice should be given to BSA before attending international event to claim average points.

Overlap - difficult to put a fixed time as it depends on where event is and how sailor plans to travel there but shouldn’t include practice time at the international site. It was suggested that the above committee should also decide the overlap.
Notice - It was suggested that the current notice for competing in an international event should be increased from 1 week to 2 weeks to stop people going on a forecast.

Vote: all agreed
Action: Bob Ingram to change in rules

Sailor identification

Tessa Ingram proposed sail stickers in the form of coloured dots for Am’s and Pro’s to ease identification for the Race crew - this happens in other classes and works well.
David White - liked the idea and said it was good for BSA promotion too.
Pierce - suggested bibs as they do in Ireland - they are all numbered and have the sponsors names on and different colours for the fleets. This helps identification, promotion and other water users know there is an event on.

Bibs might be expensive

All agreed that either was a good idea

: Paul Sibley and Jess Ash would look in to the cost options of both and report back.

Meeting closed 12.35