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.

[stacey]

Originally Posted by kent

Disqualified riders will be notified at the finish.

That would really, really suck.

[ricki]

Originally Posted by stacey

That would really, really suck.

Yes, it would!

Word to the wise, at the start of the fun run to Matheson from Ft. Lauderdale, about 25% of the riders were south of the line when the flag went up. In effect they would have been disqualified if it had been a real race.

Think about this stuff folks and WHERE you need to be for the start. Neil tells me he will have flags, a flare and horns to mark the start. Make sure you stay north of the line for the start.

[illibilli]

I need a Jeff Kalfka downwind (upwind course board) directional like Stacey (need hook-up girl!!)!! also a titanium muscle in my back leg!! othewise i am ready to go....oh....no wind under 15....i don't want to sink like on my way to matheson and watch the directionals go smoking bye...

[Sam]

Another option would be to do what they do at major sailing regattas which is to have an over early flag to let the whole fleet know if there is someone over early and if the flag goes up, it is up to that rider to restart the race by sailing back to the other side of the start line and restarting the race. there would also be a flag that would disqualify you if you are over early and to leave it up to the race committee to decide which flag to use. there would also have to be an easy way to identify riders such as jersies with numbers or even back to the sailing way and have kite numbers.

Preparatory Flag(s) Meaning
P Normal preparatory signal; no starting penalties are in effect. So if you are over the line at the start you can return through the line or round the ends. Remember that you must keep clear of boats not returning

I The Round-an-End Rule 30.1 will be in effect. If you are over the line during the minute before the start then you must sail to the pre-start side of the line around either end before starting.

The 20% Penalty Rule 30.2 will be in effect. If you are in the triangle formed by the ends of the line and the first mark during the minute before the start you will receive a 20% scoring penalty. (20% of the number entered or as dictated by the sailing instructions)

Black Flag The Black Flag Rule 30.3 will be in effect. If you are in the triangle formed by the ends of the line and the first mark during the minute before the start you will be disqualified.

I & Z Both the Round-an-End Rule and the 20% Penalty Rule will be in effect during the minute before the start.

this is copied directly from the ISAF sailing website. here is the link to the page which explains it better but it would be a better alternitive to going through all the trouble to go and travel than get disqualified...although the best solution is probibly to just not be over early!

http://www.autohoot.com/isaf_change_starting.htm