So many racers are unaware of all that USSA does for them and this is a great example. USSA offers courses for race officers (not judges - judges hear protests; they have separate courses and a judging manual for them) so that they can receive training on these issues and many others to provide a standard of race management that evryone can benefit from. They produce an excellent resource, "The Race Management Handbook", to be used in the classroom but you can purchase that book from USSA separately if you want and it sounds like you should do that if you do not take the course. The answer to your question about line length is that it depends on the characteristics of the boats, the number of boats, and the conditions. My book is old and several sections are outdated but this advice is pretty good:

In medium breeze the line should be as long as the the class with the most boats (number of boats x their length). In lighter breeze it can be made shorter and in heavier breeze it should be made longer. Planing dinghies and catamarans should have longer starting lines. The intent is that all racers should be able to have an equally good chance to get a good start. Look on the USSA website for more info and be sure to join if not a member already.



Mike Fahle