Risk assessments for race officers
There are blank risk assessment forms in the club house for race officers to fill in prior to racing taking place each day.
A copy can be downloaded from this page.
The first seven lines are affected by the weather, tide and sea state. Windier conditions with large waves are potentially more risky than a moderate breeze with flat water.
The abilities of sailors and number of entries can affect the potential risk of the race. The more sailors entering, particularly novices or sailors with mobility issues, the more you want to consider adding more safety cover; which could mean more safety boats as well as more safety boat crew.
If the elements are on the higher risk side of the table then it may be advisable to make the races safer by having more safety boat cover and setting a windward-leeward course.
If there is a strong offshore wind it might be advisable to set a course which is close to the shore.
If there is a strong ebb tide in windy/wavy conditions then it may increase the risk by putting marks of the course close to the reef.
If conditions are less favourable it might be advisable to suggest to novice sailors that they have buoyancy on their masts either with sail floats or buoyancy bags.
The combination of large numbers of novice sailors and strong winds and waves would be seen as a potential risk factor whereas a small number of competent, experienced sailors should be able to sail in quite strong conditions in a boat like a Dart 15.
Race officers, in conjunction with the Vice Commodore, may use this to table to assess conditions and to help them ameliorate risk if necessary and to cancel the race if they feel that the risk is too great to start a race.
Race officers should be extremeley wary of cancelling adult races due to weather forecasts alone.
