Race Officer

Spinnaker Club

Guidelines for course setting – Sundays and Weds afternoons

Standard considerations :

In order of priority :

1. Avoid un-necessary complexity.

2. Boats must cross the Start / finish line every lap, once only.

3. There must be at least 1, preferably 2 accurately laid beats, as long as possible for the given wind direction.

4. Make every effort to lay the start line such that the first leg is a beat, and that no end of the line is overly favoured.

5. Avoid placing marks in or too close to wind shadows.

6. Include a variety of legs. At all costs avoid a course of reaches.

7. Avoid fetches unless absolutely necessary. They serve no purpose.

8. Bear in mind that the round yellow buoys are to all intents and purposes fixed, so if using as windward or leeward marks, ensure that the other end of the leg is a mark which can be moved in either direction to maintain an accurate beat or run.

9. Do not assume that the wind you observe on the bank by the Clubhouse or Race Hut is consistent across the lake. Go on the water to make observations before setting the course. Do not put ‘pointless’ marks in the course, which serve little or no purpose.

Spinnaker specific tips :

I. Maximise use of available water in good wind.

II. If the wind is not conducive to a decent windward start, use a reaching start, but ensure the line is well offset to make it fair.

III. Avoid using the Wessex Water plug buoy (W) if it has the water quality attachment to it – it is very dangerous. Keep the course well clear.

IV. Do make use of the islands as separators, but try to avoid specifying them in the course (ie lay marks such that people naturally go the side you want).

V. In a Northerly wind, the part of the lake beyond the small island usually has excellent wind, so use it.

VI. In a Westerly wind the bays behind buoys B and C have good wind, so use the water behind them and avoid the Clubhouse shore.

VII. In an Easterly wind there is often surprisingly good wind around buoy B giving a beat right across the lake, but at all costs avoid going anywhere near the tall trees (So you need to come out of that area more or less the same way you went in initially).

Spinnaker Club

Explanatory notes to the Guidelines for course setting on Sundays and Wednesday afternoons.

Standard considerations :

These apply regardless of what type of race is being run :

1. In order to make your and the competitors life easier make the course easily understandable, whilst ensuring a good variety of legs.

2. You must be able to count boats round the course reliably every lap, and be able to shorten the course for slower boats. This also means that the start line must also be the finish line (So every lap is equi-distant). This is particularly relevant if you use the Committee boat.

3. There must be at least 1, preferably 2 accurately laid beats, as long as possible for the given wind direction.

4. Make every effort to lay the start line such that the first leg is a beat, and that no end of the line is favoured.

In particular, avoid starts where the favoured end is to start on starboard by the hut. This leads to chaos. Consider using an inner distance mark, making it very clear that you are doing so, and remove it after all have started. Also ensure that the first mark is not just a few yards away in front of the Clubhouse (Often happens in a S Westerly wind) – Either make that part of the course a reach, or have a running start in the opposite direction. Better still –use the Committee boat and start on the far side (Not Weds afternoon as you will have insufficient time to re-arrange everything for the evening race which should start on the club line).

5. Avoid placing marks in wind shadows.

Bear in mind that the wind invariably changes during the day so think about what might happen to the wind around the marks you’re using if it dies or shifts..

6. Include a variety of legs. At all costs avoid a course of ‘reaches’.

7. Avoid ‘fetches’ unless absolutely necessary. They serve no purpose.

The best courses have a good variety, in particular beats and runs, where skill is paramount. Try and set at least 1 accurate run.

8. Bear in mind that the round yellow buoys are too all intents and purposes fixed, so if using as windward or leeward marks, ensure that the other end of the leg is a mark which can be moved in either direction to maintain an accurate beat or run.

The wind at Spinnaker is particularly fickle, so in order to ensure that we have accurate beats, we need to be able to easily adjust marks to maintain this. If you use the round yellow buoys, you can’t move them, limiting your options.

9. Do not assume that the wind you observe on the bank by the Clubhouse or Race Hut is consistent across the lake. Go on the water to make observations before setting the course, and later, ask the Safety boat to verify mark positioning is accurate just before the start. If not ensure marks are moved accordingly if the wind appears to have settled.

This is important. Make time to check the wind across the whole lake, and when you’ve set the course, do it again ! and finally, just before the start get the safety boat to repeat it.

10. Do not put ‘pointless’ marks in the course which serve little or no purpose.

There’s nothing worse than having to remember pointless marks, which are often forgotten or not in what seems to be a logical progression. Often this is something like leaving an outer distance mark on one side on a run or something. Unless it’s vital don’t do it as it really makes people cross when they miss it out !

Spinnaker specific tips :

I. Maximise use of available water in good wind.

Often parts of the lake are unuseable, so make maximum use of the rest of it. You can go pretty close to the edge in most places.

II. If the wind is not conducive to a decent windward start, use a reaching start, but ensure the line is well offset to make it fair.

Ie ensure that the windward end of the line is further back than the leeward end. The aim is to have boats evenly spaced all along the line.

III. Avoid using the Wessex Water plug buoy (W) if it has the water quality attachment to it – it is very dangerous. Keep course well clear.

This is the green floating thing with sharp edges and bird repellent spikes..

IV. Do make use of the islands as separators, but try to avoid specifying them in the course (ie make people naturally go the side you want).

This is a handy way of separating legs without making the course complex. It also adds variety to the sailing experience. The islands have some interesting wind characteristics around them.

V. In a Northerly wind, the part of the lake beyond the small island usually has excellent wind, so use it.

There’s more water here than sometimes apparent. Try and ensure you go down one side of the island and back the other to avoid congestion in the narrows.

VI. In a Westerly wind the bay behind buoys B and C have good wind, so use the water behind them.

Because the water close to the Clubhouse shore will have poor wind, maximise the parts of the lake that have the most wind. You can happily go 20 meters beyond both B and C into the bay/bank in good wind with this direction. Ensure conversely that the windward marks are well off the clubhouse shore.

VII. In an Easterly wind there is often surprisingly good (If a little changeable) around buoy B.

This allows a good beat from near the Race Hut shore into this bay. The only other place a decent beat can be obtained is at the Northern end of the lake, heading towards, but not into the bay by buoy C. There is very little scope for anything other than a very short beat towards the tall trees at the Southern end if the lake, and is best avoided if possible.