I think sound judgement by the PRO is the way to go with some official guidence in the NOR.

There has to be room for changes depending on what Mother Nature throws at you. I recall running 6 races on Tuesday at the F18's in Carlyle. Great wind. Plenty of time to run it. Lot's of people bitched about the sixth race but the forecast for Wed. was 0-5mph so I wanted to get lots of racing in. As it turned out we did manage to get 3 races in on Wed. in drifter conditions. Then Thurs and Friday we had great wind with the last race being too much for most teams.

I think a maximum of 6 is fine with a goal of 4 a day with a lunch break. A maximum and goal of 19 total races for a 5 day event. Breakdown if the weather were perfect would be 4,4,4,4,3 with no races started after 2pm on Friday. However if you look at the forecast and it's a beautiful day on Monday put 5 races in.

Of course how many times have we headed to the beach to eat lunch when the conditions suddenly became perfect only to head back out after lunch and have the wind die or a storm roll in. You can't win. That's another good reason to have guidance for the PRO but not any hard and fast rules. That way with a good PRO he can anticipate the issues and perhaps run an extra race before lunch if it looks like the weather might turn bad.

At the N20 NA's this year we were worked over by the RC. He was running everyone else course 1's while we started first and got a course 2. We would finish and clean up things and fix problems and then the horn would blow for the next race. We didn't even have time for a potty break which we found a little tough. A 1/2 hour break after the second race would be nice if the conditions are under 15 knots. When it's over 15 knots I'd rather be racing or on shore. Sitting on the boat in more than 15 is hard work in itself.

The other problem is toward the end of the event a PRO doesn't feel like they can go in early if there isn't clear guidance to do so. The PRO doesn't want to show favortism toward any competitor so he will run races according to the schedule.

One nice thing if they leave you on the water for lunch would be to let folks know that you are breaking for a few minutes and post on the course board "LUNCH NEXT START 2:00PM" That way we all know what's going on. With the short 5 minute sequence we never get a chance to rest because we have to stay close around a lot of boats and be ready at a moments notice to start the race. If you put up a sign then first finishers might even go to the beach for a few minutes to take a break.

I think keeping it fun for everyone is a good goal. I don't think scaring people away from a Nationals is a good policy. We no longer have the numbers to support an attitude where we cater to the top teams. The Nationals needs to continue to draw numbers to stay finacially on solid ground. When you start getting 10 boats at a Nationals it becomes very hard to get anyone interested in hosting it.

Mike Hill
N20 #1005