Matt,

One other thing in response to, "We are not only talking the best-qualified Pro’s here. Local clubs provides some RC’s. Some kind of (maybe by class) guidelines in the rules may actually relieve an RC from some of this."

Last fall we had a new regatta run by a yacht club PRO that never ran a catamaran race before. I made myself available and sat with him on Saturday morning talking about the nuances of Hobie Cat racing. He was much abliged and ran a terrific regatta.

I know at the F18 event I polled a few of the sailors and got their opinions on setting the offset mark, did they like the offset, and even asked a few to let me know how they saw the course and any input they cared to make since I have never sailed a spin boat before and did not know their likes and dislikes.

Sometimes we, as Race Officers, have to humble ourselves and make ourselves available to be educated by the sailors themselves.

Mark