The Official Start Sequence

[kent]

Neil,

Has asked the I post the official proceedure for starting. Well, here it is... take special note of the start line. Riders will be required to sight a transit line. Basically there will be two tall poles on the beach that will be space about 15 yard apart. The race directore will start on the west side of the poles and line them up and extend the imaginary line seaward. This will be the start line.

At the riders meeting the race organizer will issue starting position numbers (see below for allocation). During the meeting the race organizer will indicate the time of the first possible start (i.e. 10:00 a.m.). Riders will be given an opportunity to synchronize their watches to the official starter’s time.

Number allocation:

All riders will be given a number between 1 and the number of entrants (i.e. 100). Riders will be seeded according to their finish position from last year’s event. Only those riders that finished will be seeded. All new entrants and those that failed to finish last year’s event will receive their number based on a random drawing.

The Start: (there will be 2 options for riders to choose)

Option #1. Riders may choose to start on the beach between the southern most staff on the beach and the northern most staff on the beach. These riders will line up according to their allocated number, with the lowest numbers being closest to the Southern most starting staff. This option is recommended for those riders just looking to cruise the course and are not necessary looking to win the event.

Option #2. Riders may choose to start on the water. These riders will launch and proceed to the water. Riders may ride before the start anywhere north of the Southern most starting staff on the beach. Their start line will be an imaginary line that extends along a transit line determinde by two tall poles on the beach. The general orientation will be NE. After the 1 minute horn and correspondent flag on the beach, NO RIDER is allowed to ride south of the imaginary line. Any rider that is south of the imaginary starting line will be disqualified by the race director. There are no exceptions. Disqualified riders will be notified at the finish.


The Sequence:

• Preparatory signal: 15 seconds before the 20 minutes signal several short blasts of the horn will be sounded.

• 20 minutes to start: A white flag will be raised and one single long blast of the horn will be sounded.

• 10 minutes to start: The white flag will be lowered and a single blast of the horn will be sounded.

• 5 minutes to start: A red flag will be raised and a single blast of the horn will be sounded.

• 1 minute to start: The red flag will be lowered and a single blast of the horn will be sounded. It is at this point that any rider south of the southern most staff will be disqualified.

• Start: Green flag up and single blast of the horn. All riders GO!

As horn can be difficult to hear in windy conditions, it is the raising and lowering of the flags that riders should pay closest attention to.

In an instance where by the race director needs to amend the start sequence, several blasts of the horn will be given and the director will start over again from the 5 minute sequence.