The number of foiling boats is lifting globally but it is still back to basics for race administration responsible for on-water safety.

As more clubs are hosting foiling classes race committee volunteers are seeing boats raced at speeds never thought possible. Counterintuitively, on-water safety is still a matter of sticking to the basics and getting them right.

Marina Psychogyiou is an International Race Officer with over a decade of experience at the highest levels of sailing across the world. Marina’s top three tips for any person new to the Principal Race Officer role and taking responsibility for a foiling event were simple:
1.    Have a good control of your race area and the way to and from it.
2.    Know the level of your fleet and how much they can handle. The more you know them the better. Don’t be afraid to get personal.
3.    Know who are your emergency contacts, make sure that they know what is expected of them and that they are available.

The three tips could be applied in any class and weren’t anything particular about foiling. These are world class safety basics.

Race officers should count their fleet, over and over. Windward marks are a good place to do this, gates at the downwind end are also a perfect place to make sure that they always have everyone accounted for. Keeping track of the fleet starts with signing on ashore, and ends with signing off when returning.

Understanding the standards and capability of the sailors is important. Different events will have different standards of sailor in their entrants. The top end may well be top class, but if it is an open fleet for which there was no qualification barrier, then the lower end may not bring the same resilience to the course area. Understanding the range of capabilities will enable you to understand how far you can go with the conditions. Just speak with class representatives to get a feel for this.

For foiling events Marina noted wryly that her primary role is to prevent emergency situations. But things happen. Marina makes sure that the people who are supposed to act know what they have to do and when, and she communicates calmly and keeps others calm. Make sure the entire team knows who the emergency contacts, ashore and afloat, and be certain that they are available.

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By Glen Stanaway