After a long wait of 4 years since the last Race Management Conference in 2018, the Irish Sailing Race Management and Support Teams Conference took place yesterday 10th April kindly hosted by Howth Yacht Club. 103 race officers, judges, umpires, mark layers, measurers, safety leaders, results managers and event support teams attended for a full day of presentations and discussions on all aspects of race management.
Speaking at the opening address David Lovegrove (Chair of Irish Sailing’s Race Officials Policy Group) commented: "A race officer can be made to look very good by a good race management team, however no matter how good the race officer is, they will be made to look very bad with an inexperienced team supporting them".
There followed a number of presentations and discussions focussing on the technical side of race management covering; Event safety, planning, technology, World Sailing Policy, use of Whiskey Flag & protests. Following an impressive lunch laid on by the catering staff of HYC, there followed further presentations from Laura Dillon and Cara McDowell outlining their respective views from the tiller/trapeze providing feedback from a sailors perspective. Also covered in the afternoon session were talks on measurer and equipment inspections, and results management.
Talking at the conference Irish Sailing CEO, Harry Hermon commented; "It takes a lot more than a good race officer to run a successful event. From today's conference, it is very clear that there is a small army of other race officials with their own essential roles that are necessary to give sailors good racing" he went on to say; "International sailors love coming to Ireland, not just for the craic and hospitality which hopefully we will be able to give them again this year, but they know they are going to get excellent racing on the water, and that is thanks to the quality of race management and the skills of those involved in organising and delivering the events".
All the available presentations are below for you to download and access directly 👇