To say I was excited was a complete understatement – the Sailing season for me has officially begun! It commenced with a course at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy entitled RYA Club Race Officers Course. This is a land based course learning the rules of racing and how to apply them on the water. A day at school in the classroom – hum, not always exciting – but this is a day in the classroom learning about SAILING! Now that’s totally different!

The morning commenced at 9am. I was still excited but also a little nervous as I was the youngest one there and it was the first time that I had met all the other volunteers. Introductions over, we settled down to session 1. There was lots to take in as we watched the powerpoint presentation which covered all the aspects of racing you would expect and a few that you wouldn’t! The flags, laying the courses and starting and finishing procedures were all the things that I expected to learn about but when you add in factors like the wind direction, the tide and different shaped courses, it all got a bit more complicated!

We stopped for a well earned lunch and then regrouped for the afternoon session. Our attention was drawn to an invaluable publication – the Racing Rules of Sailing. Far from a small manual, it was a bit daunting to think that a qualified ISAF Race Officer who overseas International competitions must know it all inside out! I can only liken it to being a FIFA referee!

At the end of the session we were thanked for attending and advised that although the theory had been completed, we had to do some practical race sessions, not only to cement what we had learnt in a real environment but also to show our instructors that the fundamental basics of assisting with an official race had been understood. These will happen over the coming season.

Meanwhile, I’m off to inwardly digest as much as can while it is fresh in my mind!

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