Irish Sailing Race Officials Policy Group – Newsletter December ‘24
ROPG Biennial Conference
The biennial ROPG conference went West this year when Galway Bay Sailing Club expressed an interest in hosting the event. A full house attendance of 84 people turned up from all parts of the country on Saturday 9th November and following a short welcome by Irish Sailing President, John Twomey, were rewarded with a wide range of interesting presentations that varied from robotic marks (Ed Totterdell), Changes to the Racing Rules of Sailing (2025 – 2028) (Chris Lindsay – having just returned from a World Sailing conference overseas), Safeguarding for Race Officials (Sarah-Louise Rossiter), Safety Guidelines & Plans for Race Officials (John Leech), an insight into the Race Management at the Olympics (Rory Fitzpatrick), Team Racing and Match Racing – any club can do it! (Michael Conway), a presentation on ROPG considerations by Mal Nowlan, ROPG Chair, Running a Championship (Stephen O’Shaughnessy), Measurement – an oversight (Olive Parker), Revised Local Race Officer Course (Tadhg Donnelly) and a plea from Alan Algeo for more race official volunteers to come forward. Additionally, there were two breakout session for Results Management (Dara Totterdell) and Safety Leader Experiences (Phillip Scallan).
Over the course of the conference some attendees, especially race officers, sought guidance in connection with the responsibilities and risk they take on when leading a race management team. Irish Sailing has formed a Safety Working Group chaired by Mal Nowlan to consider these concerns and it is expected to provide advice to all race officials early in the new year.
Another key area discussed widely was the Revised Local Race Officer course. A ROPG subgroup chaired by Ed Totterdell has been working on updating this course. The work is almost complete, and it is expected to roll out the new course and format in late January. The new course will be geared not just to local or club race officers but to all who assist in running racing at club level including recorders, timers and flaggers to get them more involved and able to assist the race officer. It will also include the recommendations on responsibilities and risk being considered by the Safety Working Group.
Details of each presentation can be found here (under race officials and race management conference 2024): Irish Sailing > Library > Racing
In Summary, the conference was characterised by good engagement between the speakers and the audience. It also served to highlight what are some of the issues for smaller clubs where their race management requirements are tailored to a slightly different clientele.
Post conference, 35 people adjourned to a nearby hotel to enjoy further discussion and socialising. A pre-event concern that people might not want to travel turned out to be completely unfounded with representatives from across the country in attendance.
Race Officials Recognition
The Conference did appear to prompt a surge of applicants trying to get their Race Official credentials accredited and back in order before end of year – a fantastic outcome to support the existing cohort of amazing volunteers. Irish Sailing will be processing this paperwork imminently to maintain the momentum that has been generated.
Race Officials Dinner
While the ROPG Conference will remain a biennial event, there is consideration that an annual ROPG Dinner would be a viable event, given the enthusiasm shown in Galway. The ROPG will consider options in this regard and will advice the ROPG community accordingly.
Annual Judges Dinner
An annual Judges Dinner, is scheduled to be hosted in 2025 by Howth Yacht Club, on 17th January and a recent e-mail was put out to this effect in the past week or so with an additional suggestion of a transport plan for those judges who may wish to attend from “the other side of Dublin Bay.”
Forthcoming ROPG Events
Over the next few months Irish Sailing will be organising a number of training events in advance of the summer season. Preliminary venues are Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club, Lough Derg Yacht Club and the Royal Cork YC will host courses. More detail will follow closer to the time.
There are also specific plans to have a workshop for Judges with regard to the new Racing Rules of Sailing (2025 – 2028). In his presentation in Galway, Chris Lindsay advised that the changes are not dramatic, but there are changes, nonetheless.
A presentation on the new rules, at the request of DBSC for their Race Officers is also proposed.
A Regional Jury course is also on the agenda before the start of the season, subject to demand.
Season’s Greetings!
As this will be the last ROPG newsletter of the year, we would like to wish all our Racing Officials a Happy Christmas and New Year and to thank them for their collective efforts on our behalf over the past twelve months.