Start Racing Guide

Dinghy Racing is an excellent way to get on the water, hone your skills, and have some fun with friends!

The basic idea is to cross the line at the start, sail around the course as fast as you can, and then cross the finish line. Each of these can seem a little mysterious to the beginner, so in this guide we will give you the basic information, so you can join in with the club racing on Sundays.

Before Launching

• Enter: Write your name, boat class (i.e., Laser Pico) and sail number on the Signing-on Sheet in the Safety Office by the slipway. The Officer of the Day needs this information to recognise your boat on the water.
• Course: The race course is displayed on the door to the Safety Office. Copy the course onto something that will survive getting wet. There is often a roll of tape in the Safety Hut for this purpose. You can just try to follow the boats ahead - but watch out they don't always know where they're going either!
• Launch: Be on the water 10-15 minutes before the start. This will allow time to adjust to the conditions and sail to the start line area.

The Start

The Start Line at Teesdale SWC is usually between two marks, called the Inner Distance Mark (IDM) and the Outer Distance Mark (ODM). The start in sailing is usually upwind (not downwind), so make sure you are approaching the start from the correct side!

You can see a map of the lake with the IDM & ODM labelled here: Teesdale Sailing and Watersports Club : Course Map (tdswc.org.uk)

The start sequence is a countdown, with flags and sound signals for 5 minutes, 4 minutes, 1 minute and Go.

You must be behind the line when the start flag comes down and the start horn sounds. The most important thing in the build-up is to stay close to the line - that way you will always get a decent start.

Sail the Course

At Teesdale SWC we usually sail "round the cans", which means we sail a course around the buoys that are permanently out on the lake. As mentioned earlier, there is a map of all the buoy positions, and the day's route in the Safety Office. Once the race starts we typically head for the 'windward mark'. This is directly upwind from the start line. Since we can't sail straight into the wind, you will need to zig-zag in order to get there. Watch what the boats ahead are doing and copy! Once you have started just follow the boats ahead of you - but watch out just in case they're sailing the wrong route!

Remember, we sail handicap racing, which means lots of boats of different speeds sail together, and we use a handicap system to work out the winner. This means you might be well behind another faster boat on the water, but you could beat it on handicap - so don't give up!

The Finish

To finish, you must cross the finish line. At Teesdale SWC, this is always the same line as the start line. Indeed you will must sail through the line on every lap, this is because some faster boats will sail more laps than other boats. The OOD will record each time a boat crosses the line, and use this to work out the results.

Conclusion

I hope this helps begin to demystify some of the parts of racing. We would be delighted to see more boats joining in with the racing - see you on the water!