JUNIOR SAILING ASSOCIATION OF LONG ISLAND SOUND
Updated March 2008
The purpose of this guide is to provide regatta organizers with some guidance on hosting JSA events. Regatta participation is an important part of many junior sailors’ experiences each summer. A smoothly run regatta will ensure a safe and fun learning experience for all of the competitors.
This guide is tailored to the JSA schedule and Rules for Events. For a more general set of guidelines or for more information, an excellent resource is chapter 2 of the U.S. Sailing Race Management Handbook.
Discuss with your Board or Race and Regatta Committee the possibility of hosting a JSA event and the ramifications thereof.
Consider the size of the event, the number of days, number of classes or starts, the need for housing, meals, entertainment, facilities
JSA events to be scheduled:
One day events
All Optimist Qualifier
All Alternate Events
Eastern/Western Districts
Two or more day events
Larchmont Race Week
Laser/420 Raceweek
Bluejay/Pixel Raceweek
Pequot Bluejay/Pixel Invitational
All JSA Championship Events
Ladder Events
McIntyre Team Race
Advise JSA at the fall meeting or by contacting the JSA office directly of your club’s desire to host an event (along with proposed dates and constraints)
Review the JSA Rules for Events (which can be found at the link www.jsalis.org/JSA_Organization/Rules.html). Some sections of note include:
JSA Rule 1.2 – Life Jackets
JSA Rule 1.3 – Whistles
JSA Rule 3.4 – Class Membership
JSA Rule 3.5 – Eligibility for Alternate Events
JSA Rule 10.4 – Supervision (specifically section d)
Appendix C – Arbitration Procedure
Appendix D – Guidelines for JSA Events
Set the regatta date in coordination with the JSA schedule
Select key members of regatta committee and conduct initial organizational meeting
Race Management: confirm your Principal Race Officer and your Race Committee. Some other considerations:
For organizers who are running championship or ladder events, JSA will confirm judges and/or arbitrators for your event and will notify you with any requirements
Consider appointing an arbitrator to implement the JSA simplified protest procedure (See Appendix C).
If your regatta is going to be large, you may want to consider dividing the fleet into divisions and using a round robin format.
Encourage your race committee to attend a U.S. Sailing seminar on race management
Determine whether your race committee wants to be involved in the review and acceptance of waivers for underage and/or underweight participants.
Discuss with your race committee their views and requirements on:
On-water judging
Race equipment requirements
Protest committee
U.S. Sailing forms and information
The standard Protest form can be found at this link: http://www.ussailing.org/racemgt/documents/ussapf.pdf
Judge and protest committee information can be found at this link: http://www.ussailing.org/judges/links.asp
Identify any governmental permit approvals that may be required and apply for permits
Coast Guard Application for Marine Event: Information and the application can be found at this link: http://www.uscg.mil/d1/units/seclis/marineevent/marineevent.html
Event management: designate a Regatta Chair (or "Event Chair"). At most clubs, this role is responsible for all aspects of the regatta that are not covered by the Race Committee:
Meeting with club manager to work out plan and requirements for regatta
This role also serves as primary point of contact for interaction with JSA
Complete preliminary detailed budget. This may include:
Club charges, if appropriate
Food, water, snacks
Give-aways
Fuel and other committee boat expenses
Set the regatta fee structure
Develop event timeline or key date schedule
4 to 6 months before the event
Make an announcement and presentation at membership meeting to begin attracting volunteers
Confirm some of remaining major subcommittee assignments and start having monthly meetings
Registration Some notes and advice:
The JSA does not encourage under-age or underweight sailors. When reviewing registrations:
Check that a boat crew must meet the minimum weight requirements for the boat class, unless a special waiver form has been submitted and accepted by the Regatta Chair or the Race Committee. These requirements are spelled out in the JSA Rules for Events
Check that each sailor meets the minimum (and maximum) age requirements for the boat class, unless a special waiver form has been submitted and accepted by the Regatta Chair or the Race Committee.
Consider accepting registrations “electronically”. The standard approach that is in growing use is to designate a spreadsheet format for entries and accept that spreadsheet and a PDF file containing the JSA waiver agreement and medical authorization forms for each participant via email. The method you will accept should be specified in the NOR. Please check the JSA website for the NOR template which will have some sample language. Some sample approaches:
If you are going to accept registrations electronically, consider setting up an entry for your regatta in the JSA online database. Please see the guide for regatta chairs (on the JSA forms page) for more information.
The remaining challenge for electronic registration is collecting regatta fee payment. The JSA database will not handle payment transactions and you are strongly urged to discourage transmission of credit card information via email. A possible option is the use of PayPal but the organizing authority will need to set themselves up as a vendor on Paypal and provide instructions on use in the NOR.
Safety You should have someone who serves as Safety Chair for the regatta. Some other considerations:
Inspections
No Blue Jay may sail in any JSA-sanctioned regatta without a properly completed Inspection Certificate (See the JSA website for the revised BJ Buoyancy Guidelines). Please take the time to inspect all boats for compliance with the floatation requirements.
If you are doing an Optimist regatta, please consider doing inspections to ensure the safety (and ability to sail) of the competitors). An Optimist Safety Inspection Form is available on the JSA website.
Develop a safety plan for both on and off the water
Define Regatta safety patrol procedures including role of instructors, volunteer safety boats, parents, etc.
Identify safety boats and captains
Clubs sending 3 or more sailors are required to send boats with instructors to aid in this endeavor (JSA Rule 10.4)
Mandatory instructor registration at the event
Mandatory instructor meeting covering expectations for instructor behavior at regattas including:
Regatta Safety Patrol Assignments
Weather bulletins
Coaching
Operation of coach boats in and around the race course
Radio etiquette (and the channels to be used by the committee)
Promotion of good sportsmanship and adherence to the rules
As an additional resource, request a Safe Boating Campaign Kit from the National Safe Boating Council by emailing them at campaign@safeboatingcouncil.org.
Housing (for multiday regattas) Some considerations:
The NOR should include a section on housing including rules on who will be housed. Take into consideration the distance competitors have to travel as well as traffic conditions at the time they will be travelling. Due to the growth in sailors requesting housing, some clubs now put a limit on the number of people they will house from any one club.
It is fairly standard that housing is often limited to sailors from the other side of the Sound.
Consider requiring that at least one instructor be housed from any club for which you are housing sailors. This will give you someone local who can help with any issues that arise.
JSA has a template that can be used for housing requests which can be found at the link www.jsalis.org/Forms.html.
Start lining up volunteer homes as early as possible.
Set appropriate expectations both for kids being housed (e.g., whether sleeping bags are required) and for the people opening their homes (e.g., pickup and dropoff times, curfews and discipline, provision of breakfast).
3 to 4 months before event
Publish notice of race (NOR) and put it on your website with links to other sites. Some additional considerations:
The JSA has a standardized Notice of Race template available for download from the link www.jsalis.org/Forms.html.
Before finalizing your Notice of Race, consider how you want to accept registration for regattas – electronically or in paper form.
The main distribution point for all NORs is on the JSA website. Please name your Word documents in the format DATE_ClubCode_EventName; an example is below:
2003-07-08_CSH_Opti_A_Regatta_NOR.doc (NOR for Optimist Area A regatta at Cold Spring Harbor on July 8th, 2003)
NORs (not SIs) are also distributed in a binder at the JSA Spring Meeting. To ensure inclusion in that binder, send your NOR electronically to info@jsalis.org, generally by mid-May. Specific due dates will be set each year in the annual mailing to regatta organizers.
For organizers who are running championship or ladder events (Smythe, Bemis, Sears), the due date will be earlier and SIs are also required as both the NOR and SI will be submitted to a US Sailing judge (or if already assigned, the chief judge for your event) for his/her review and approval.
Organizing authorities who do not comply with the submission procedures outlined above and who wish to distribute their NORs at the Spring Meeting will need to provide 130 copies of the NOR on 3-hole punched paper. These hardcopy submissions will be handed out separately at the Spring Meeting.
If you are running an Optimist regatta, all Optimist regattas are held in JSA designated Areas A, B or C. Sailors may qualify for championships only from regattas in their club’s designated area (JSA Rule 12.1a). Please be sure to specify the designated area(s) for your regatta in your NOR. Note: The JSA, not the regatta organizers, will make the determination as to who qualifies for JSA Championship events. Please instruct sailors to refer to the JSA Website for a list of qualifiers.
If you are running an Optimist regatta that includes the Green Fleet, please review the USODA Green Fleet policy statement at this link: http://www.usoda.org/listing/GreenFleetpolicy.PDF.
Confirm all remaining subcommittee assignments and continue monthly meetings
Launch/retrieval and traffic/parking
Where will boats be stored/located once they are dropped off?
Where will boats be launched from?
Where will dollies/trailers be stored during the day? Overnight?
If a hoist is involved in launching, how will you manage traffic to/from the hoist?
Will there be moorings for wet-sailed boats?
How will visiting safety/power boats be launched/stored?
Where will people park when they are bringing boats to the venue?
Do you need to make provisions for short-term vs long-term parking?
Should you station volunteers at key locations to help manage traffic in and out of the venue?
Line up a lot of sturdy volunteers to assist with traffic management and boat unloading/loading at the beginning and the end of the regatta.
Food and Entertainment
It is the usual practice to provide on-water lunches for all participants for multiple day regattas. For single day regattas, you only need to consider your race committee and on-water volunteers.
It is also usual practice to provide breakfast and dinner for multiple day regattas for sailors who have been housed, thus alleviating the burden on the host families.
For regattas for older sailors, it is somewhat customary to provide entertainment (a D.J., games, etc.) in the evening after racing (except the last day). Remember that you need chaperones with sailors this age.
Make menu choices that are healthy and appropriate for the age group. Food that can be eaten while standing up is best; food that requires cutting is probably not appropriate. Avoid foods that spoil easily like mayonnaise, particularly in lunches.
Try to have snacks and beverages available for the sailors immediately when they are back on land, even for one-day regattas.
You can never have enough water. Consider having boats with extra water on the race course to ensure that everyone stays hydrated.
Make arrangements and reservations for outside vendors well in advance.
Sponsors
Decide whether to involve sponsors
Decide how sponsors will be involved (e.g., branding on t-shirts, give-aways, water)
Goody bags, t-shirts, or giveaways
Consult with your junior sailors to determine the best solution to the giveaway t-shirt/visor problem
Remember your volunteers and race committees and order enough to go around
Trophies
Trophies for all events, except JSA Championship or USSAILING ladder events, are the responsibility of the Organizing Authority.
For organizers who are running championship or ladder events (Smythe, Bemis, Sears), please see the annual mailing for regatta organizers for information about provision or funding of trophies by JSA for champs and ladder events.
Consider offering a Sportmanship Award to encourage good sportsmanship by the sailors. The winner(s) should be chosen according to the standards of the JSA Code of Ethics. You may wish to have the winners selected by the sailors, the instructors, or the Regatta Committee, or a combination of the three.
If you do offer a Sportmanship Award, choose a trophy that can be easily reused in a later regatta (e.g., a wooden box with a plaque instead of an engraved pewter bowl) in case there are no good candidates.
For classes with skipper and crew, ensure that there are two trophies of equivalent size for each place.
Place article in club newsletter
Arrange and confirm an event photographer
2 months before event
Review status of housing, trophies, food/entertainment, giveaways, volunteers, etc.
Order wristbands if appropriate
Dignitary invitations (including commodore or as appropriate for awards ceremony)
Arrange for vendors (e.g., Boat Locker, Dinghy Shop) to be onsite
1 month before event
Plan for publicity
The JSA office would like a regatta article and photographs, submitted within one day of the regatta. Articles and pictures may appear in the JSA newsletter. Digital photos saved in VGA-quality resolution may be emailed with the articles for the JSA newsletter to info@jsalis.org
Consider sending the results, article and photos to your local paper at the same time that you send them to the JSA office.
If appropriate, reach out to local news outlets in advance of the regatta to see if they would like to send someone to cover the racing or awards ceremony.
Final sailing instructions printed and put onto website
The JSA has a standardized Sailing Instruction template available for download from the link www.jsalis.org/Forms.html.
The main distribution point for all SIs is on the JSA website. Please name your Word documents in the format DATE_ClubCode_EventName; an example is below:
2007-07-28_CPYC_JSA_RaceWeek_SI.doc (SI for JSA RaceWeek at Cedar Point on July 28th, 2007)
SIs are not included in the binder distributed at the JSA Spring Meeting.
As soon as your SIs are available, please email them to info@jsalis.org for posting on the JSA website. You should also print copies to hand out on the day of the event.
For organizers who are running championship or ladder events (Smythe, Bemis, Sears), the due date will be earlier as both the NOR and SI will be submitted to a US Sailing judge (or if already assigned, the chief judge for your event) for his/her review and approval.
If you are running an Optimist regatta, all Optimist regattas are held in JSA designated Areas A, B or C. Sailors may qualify for championships only from regattas in their club’s designated area (JSA Rule 12.1a). Please be sure to specify the designated area(s) for your regatta in your SI in addition to your NOR.
If you are running an Optimist regatta that includes the Green Fleet, please review the USODA Green Fleet policy statement at this link: http://www.usoda.org/listing/GreenFleetpolicy.PDF.
Confirm plans (and personnel) for race committee, race judging, and protest committee
Confirm club personnel schedule
Confirm all equipment (VHF radios, air horns, race marks and tackle, flags)
Confirm chartered/borrowed boats
Confirm final social, grounds, housing, and ceremonies plans
Loudspeaker
Flagstaffs
Information/protest desk
Committee and Protest rooms
Food delivery
Offshore coordination
Cleanup
Property Loss
Designate a highly visible Lost and Found “Guru”
Publicize Lost and Found procedures and post lists of missing equipment.
Designate a specific storage area for gear and have available a safe (i.e., locked) facility for storage of small valuables.
Arrange for a marine supplier to be present as a source for replacing broken or missing equipment.
Set up for scoring
Suggested scoring software includes Race Sail, Regatta Manager or St. Pete’s.
Verify that your software will handle the JSA rule for Time Limit Expired scoring (A TLE add-on is available from JSA for St. Pete’s).
Regatta results should be emailed to the JSA office (info@jsalis.org) as soon as they are finalized; faxes or handwritten results will not be accepted. Acceptable formats include HTML, Excel, or the output of the scoring software mentioned above (although HTML is the preferred format)
Results will be published on the JSA website but will not appear in the newsletter.
Do not announce at your event names of possible qualifiers for JSA Championships; the JSA Office will take care of this once your event results have been delivered to the the office.
Consider having tape recorders and videocameras at the finish – some finishes are very chaotic. You should also have multiple finish recorders: one person to call numbers as they cross and multiple people at both ends of the line to write the numbers down.
2 weeks before event
·Order signage, etc. (parking, registration, notice board)
For multiday regattas, put signs up identifying specific locations for each visiting club.
·Reconfirm volunteer personnel schedule
Registration due date
Process registrations
Provide list of sailors to be housed to Housing Chair
If appropriate, forward underage/weight waivers to race committee for review and approval
1 week before event
Final regatta committee organizational meeting
Set up venue (signs, etc.)
Establish set up crew for event and cleanup crew for post-event
Confirm receipt of prizes, trophies, t-shirts, etc.
Confirm all water craft and radios as operational; first aid kits for safety boats
1 day before event
Set up registration stations
Set up housing desk
Gas up safety and coach boats
Race committee organizational meeting
Set up official notice board
First Race Day
Get volunteers there early – competitors always arrive sooner than you expect
Race committee/protest committee/organizing authority joint organizational meeting
Competitors meeting
SI review
Organizational announcements (food, water, notice board)
Safety concerns
Instructor meeting (including safety assignments)
Post results on web site and onsite daily
Ensure all equipment (boats, radios, Race committee equipment) is operational at end of each day
Last Race Day
Post preliminary results as soon as possible
Finalize protest and redress adjustments as quickly as possible
Awards Ceremony
Clean-up
Post Regatta
Regatta results should be emailed to the JSA office (info@jsalis.org) as soon as they are finalized.
The JSA office would also like a regatta article and photographs. Articles and pictures may appear in the JSA newsletter.
THANK YOU!!!