Absolutely!

But not just to limit legal liability.

Saftey on the water is the captains responsiblity solely. If he or she can't handle the conditions then they should retire for the day. Under no circumstance should he count on being rescued from his personal emergency by the Race committee.
When you announce "saftey patrol boats are on the course" you are saying hey... take some chances... we have your butt covered. " This is a silly statement to make and you will get someone into real trouble this way.

Having adequate marks boats so that you can efficently manage the race course is good race comitte work.

Pretending that somebody's neighbor on a "saftey patrol" has the ability to pull an injured sailor out of the water or in the situation in the Tornado regatta in Europe cut a drowning sailor out from under his turtled tramp is crazy. (The folks who tried to rescue this fellow were on coach boats... not race committe saftey patrols and they were on top of the situation within minutes)

These "captain is responsible" guidelines are recognized by the coast guard. They will not assign coast guard auxillory boats to patrol your regatta as a trained saftey patrol. They will tell you... Its each skippers responsiblity to operate his vessel in a safe manner. If you have an emergency... hail the coast guard on channel 16.

Having said this... every cat sailor, marks boat operator and Race committe person should be aware of saftey and assist when they can..... I anounce this standard at every skipprs meeting that I run. This is very different then saying... '"We have patrol boats positioned on the course. We have got you covered"

Remember, ANY time that you spend checking on a capsized sailor will be remanded by the RC. This is one of the racing rules that we follow.

Finally, take distance racing for example... It is impossible to patrol a 100 mile race course (Worrell 1000 leg). We don't pretend that we can. What is the difference between say the Statue of Liberty race (70 boats, 40 mile course and a busy commercial harbor) and a buoys race?

Nothing! ..... Each sailor take on the responsibility for himself his crew and the boat to race or not.

Race committes should not undercut this responsibility. They establish a starting line, set a fair course and record finish times.

Take Care
Mark