If you can keep your head when all around are losing theirs and blaming it on you…

Apart from taking my turn at “Officer of the Day” for the sailing club on Swarkston gravel pit (Derby, UK), and occasionally helping out at Hunters Hill Sailing Club, I hadn’t had much exposure to race organisation.

For the 2018 Mirror Nationals there was quite a team – mark boat 1, mark boat 2, maybe mark boat 3, pin boat, and of course safety boats.

Whatever their age, all actors were self confident and decisive; knowledgeable and competent. Do they do the job because they have those characteristics, or do they develop the characteristics as they do the job? Or maybe you have to show them if you are to retain your ‘cred’ .

I was left in awe.

But in the end, it all comes down to the race officer. It’s been an education to watch him work.

I get the gist of what has to be done to make a good, fair race for the competitors, but the details of how it’s done often elude me.

My basic job is to time the start. And I’m a back-up when recording results. It’s limited in its scope, but as with all the activities, it’s a problem if there’s a stuff-up.

So far it seems ok. Here’s hoping that we can retain that record.