At the F18 Canadians, I made the organizers change the NOR so that they could at least carry a VHF on board. The SIs specified that it was only to be used in an emergency.

The first day of the event was windy and cool. My mark/safety boat resources were thin (only 2 boats in the morning). At the skippers' meeting I told the crowd that I strongly encouraged them to take a radio out; I told them what channel we would be on and I told them to wear it on their person.

The boat will not call me on the radio when you get separated from it.

We had several people call us to tell us they were retiring. On the second day, we had a person in the water for about 15 minutes when they got separated from their boat (and weren't wearing a radio). They were picked up by another competitor who was rewarded redress handsomely by the jury (at the request of the RC).