Officer of the Day (OOD) - Notes
The evening before fully charge the VHF batteries.
Phone Avonmouth Signal Station on 01179822257 before you leave home to give them the start time (always 1 hour before HW). Tell them you’ll call again on VHF when you are in position. Ask them to let the Police at Portbury Dock know.
Make sure you have the OOD Pack!
Stop at Police Post at Portbury & show them Letter of Authority.
There is a florescent waistcoat and hard hat in the pack to be worn if you get out of the car.
Directions to the OOD location on the start line - go ¾ way round 1st roundabout - go along long straight to end of Dock - turn left - another long straight - bear right following right hand roadway with a high bank on your RHS & cars on LHS. Park at right angles to road where bank drops down so you can see over it. Position car so that the WHITE MARK on the wall at Avonmouth (flanked by blue paint) is directly in line with a WHITE FLAG POST on the left-hand side of a brick-built building at Avonmouth. This is the start line. N.B. the bouy is the first mark on the course (i.e. leave to port), due to the effects of tide it may not be on the line.
Drawing of Start Line, Map of Racing Marks
All yachts must pass the yellow buoy on the Avonmouth side both when starting & finishing (or disqualified).
Tune VHF’s to Ch 12 & Ch37 - you will have to fiddle with the knobs & buttons on the Icom to find them - may be in memory! Call Bristol VTS to confirm you are in position & start time of Race. Get the wind strength & direction & in/outbound shipping movements (particularly large ships bound for Portbury) - & whether they will swing before entering the lock (usual for early arrivals) or go straight in (usual for large & deep-draught ships arriving close to HW - note them down so that you can pass this info on to the Sailing Sec & boats. Decide on a suitable course, which should avoid any know shipping, should allow the boats maximum time on the water, but also allow any slower boats to finish. Discuss whether to delay the start for shipping reasons. N.B. Starts will ONLY be delayed for shipping movements (particularly if requested by Avonmouth Radio, although a different course may be sufficient to prevent a delay). Late-comers to the start line will NOT justify a delay (unless HW is less than 10m when some yachts may have difficulty getting off their moorings).
NOTIFY YACHTS of:-
COUNTDOWNS - under new RYA rules there is no longer a 10 minute countdown - the new countdowns are:- 5-min, 4-min, 1-min, Start. Please give a warning then a 10-sec countdown before each one. DO NOT say “5-min countdown … NOW” as this is no use to crews busy on their boats wanting to set their stopwatches.
There is a new timer in the OOD Pack - read the instructions on the box & get familiar with it! PREMATURE STARTERS - any boats over the line at the start must be advised over the VHF & they must then return & re-cross the line without impeding other boats. If they fail to do so after a 2nd call they must be disqualified.
If there are no early starters you can relax - you’ve nothing to do until the leading yacht nears the start line (although keep listening on Ch 12 to Bristol VTS & PCC boats on Ch 37)!
FINISHING - if you are not sure of the identity of the yachts, please ask them to identify themselves approaching the finish line. Take their time as the leading part of the boat crosses the start/finish line. Either sound your car horn or confirm they have finished over the VHF. Any yacht finishing more than 1 hour after HW is disqualified - you can pack up at HW+1.
FINALLY - call Avonmouth, tell them all yachts accounted for (or not!) & thank them for their co-operation & state you are closing down.
Return to PCC to work out results (instructions below).
OOD’s are also responsible for the bar apart from usual bar times at weekends & Wednesdays.
When you do OOD duty you will get average points (i.e. the average of what points you have scored in that particular series).
P.S. If you have never done OOD duty, speak to me & I will pair you with someone who is experienced. OOD duty is nerve-wracking initially so the best way to learn is with someone else. I do not expect someone who has never done OOD duty to do it on their own.
A) You should have the start & finish times for each yacht that has finished. Non finishers include yachts which have failed to finish through having retired voluntarily, or been disqualified through
B) Work out the elapsed time for each boat in Hours: mins: secs:
C) Convert each elapsed time into seconds using the laminated converter sheet “Elapsed Time Table” in the file.
D) Calculate the Corrected Time (also in seconds). Use the following formula:-
ELAPSED TIME (in secs) x Handicap / 1000 = CORRECTED TIME
(As a crude check your answer for normal “top of the tide” races would normally fall between 3000-7000)
Make sure you use the current PCC Handicap for each boat - currently each boat's handicap is subject to review after every 3 races it completes (where reasonable results obtained i.e. not excluded by being a “poor performance” as defined by the RYA PY handicapping scheme). N.B. The up-to-date PCC Handicap list will be contained in the file.
Any queries, please discuss with PCC Sailing Sec sailing-secretary@portisheadcruisingclub.org.uk