From being Rules Advisor for Young Australia in 1999 to Chief Umpire for the 36th America’s Cup in 2021 Richard Slater has worked both sides of the Auld Mug.

Richard Slater’s first foray into the Cup was when he was invited to be the Rules Adviser for Young Australia in 1999 for their challenge in the 30th America’s Cup Challenger Series. From there Richard did a number of other Rules Adviser roles with America’s Cup teams. During that time Richard became an International Umpire and then an International Judge, working as an umpire at Match Racing Events.

Following the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco Richard was asked to be the Chief Umpire for the 35th Cup in Bermuda and for the regattas leading up to Bermuda. The good form continued and Richard found himself appointed to be the Chief Umpire for the 36th America’s Cup and the Prada Cup in Auckland.

As Chief Umpire of the 36th America’s Cup Richard manages the umpire team and International Jury. The role also requires Richard to look after the America’s Cup edition of the Racing Rules of Sailing, including the World Sailing approval processes. The software engineers behind the race management software ‘UmpBot’ also rely on Richard to help make improvements and a better event. 

Reflecting on the different roles as an advisor or umpire, Richard comments “The jobs are very different. An umpire’s task is to work within a team to logically and consistently apply the rules to the different situations. An advisor’s job is to mirror how the umpire team or jury would interpret the rules and then impart this knowledge to the sailors.”

The Cup is also consultative with teams and Richard’s role as an advisor played a part there, channelling input to the event. Richard tells us that “an advisor is also required to represent the wishes of the team and have those wishes represented in the rules for the event.” An umpire needs to be open and communicate with all the players in the game. Not only competitors, but other race officials, organising authorities and the press.

Looking back at his growth as an umpire, the advice he would give is to trust your instinct, and be prepared for the job at hand. Personal composure is also critical. Rugby referee Steve Walsh has a tattoo ‘He who controls himself, controls the game’, a principal Richard agrees with. Richard also makes the dry advice to “never…ever… point the bow of your umpire boat at a bow of a high speed yacht.”

Richard works with some remarkable technology and feels that it will flow into our sport at all levels. An example he offers is that top end mobile phones will soon come out with the technology that matches the accuracy of the Pelican suitcases that were first used for tracking technology. The sport will be able to embrace this and maybe the rules can be changed to provide all sailors with a better game by using this technology.

Another aspect of the Cup Richard sees the mainstream sport taking on is to give sailors a game that is over at the end of the race. That is without the uncertainty of protest and redress time frames, typically exacerbated by the provision for appeals. Simply put, the first boat across a finish line is the winner. Sailing is seeing more umpiring in fleet racing and World Sailing now allows an umpire to attain International Umpire qualification via the Fleet Racing discipline.