Volunteer Race Committee (RC) Duties

In 2008, we introduced this very successful procedure for volunteering for RC duties. Simply put, if you register to race, you are required to sign up for RC duties.

  1. Each keelboat skipper is responsible for providing three (3) volunteers and each dinghy skipper is responsible for providing two (2) volunteers. If your boat is actively racing on more than one evening you have to provide twice as many volunteers.
  2. Go to the RC Volunteer Signup Calendar.
  3. Pick the month in which you’d like to volunteer.
  4. Pick a race night and sign up your crew/volunteers. If a race night you pick is partially filled, either pick another night or spread your volunteers over a couple of nights.
  5. When registering, indicate the boat name, skipper, skipper’s email and fleet of the boat which should be credited for this RC Duty. The skipper will then receive a copy of the confirmation notice. If you are not representing a boat, you do not need to fill in this section.
  6. Show up for RC duty on the night you selected at least 1 hour before the race starts, i.e. at 5:15 p.m. for summer race nights; at 5:00 p.m. after September 1st. Meet at the race committee boat, on the lower dock, behind the clubhouse.
  7. If you race more than one night, go to step 1 and do this again. That’s it.

NOTE: Filling JAM & Frostbite duties, in particular for Markset, is always our biggest challenge. If you don’t race on Thursdays, please consider signing up for JAM duty. Thank you.

Volunteers get 2 RC Duty credits for each day they volunteer for RC/Markset for the Frostbite Series.

For those who don’t sign up, the RC Volunteer Coordinator will contact skippers, who are actively racing, to fill the empty slots in the schedule. Skippers who fail to sign up at that point will be scored NR (Not Registered) until they fulfill their RC duty obligations, per the Sailing Instructions. So, beat the rush and sign up now!

Questions and Answers

Anyone can volunteer; they don’t even need to be racers! They just have to be able to perform the light duties expected of them as RC crew. Although the skipper for each boat that is registered to race is responsible for providing volunteers, the people who show up for RC duty don’t have to be the skipper or crew of that boat.

No experience is necessary — the race bosun will guide you through your duties.

If you can’t attend, we ask that you first try to find an alternate to fill in for you, especially if you’re cancelling shortly before your duty. Whether you’re successful, or not, in finding a replacement, you should then contact the RC Volunteer Coordinator, as soon as possible. If you cancel within 24 hours of your duty and do not find a replacement, an automatic scoring penalty of 2 points will be applied to your boat the next time you race (Ref: SI 18.10). If you do not advise the RC Volunteer Coordinator and fail to show up, an automatic scoring penalty of 3 points will be applied to your boat, and you will put the running of that race in jeopardy.

If RC volunteers fail to show up on time, then the race bosun will postpone racing until sufficient volunteers are available to run a race. If insufficient volunteers are found, the bosun will have to cancel the race. If a crew from a boat volunteers at the last minute for RC duty, and as a result, that boat is unable to race, their boat will be eligible for average points. Each crew that fails to attend their scheduled duty will have an automatic 3-point scoring penalty (scored RCN Race Committee No-Show) applied to their boat the next time it races.

Volunteering for the scoring and protest committee for weeknight series or frostbite racing is recognized as RC duty. Scoring one series of racing is equivalent to 3 RC duties. Hearing protests on one evening counts as one RC duty. Volunteering for other Fleet or NSC activities is very much appreciated, but does not count towards RC duty.

Boats will not get average points if they do RC Duty on a night on which they normally race (i.e. the boat will be scored DNC if it doesn’t race), except in the case where they volunteer at the last minute, as noted above. So if you’re concerned about your results, volunteer on a night you don’t race.

No problem, just go to the website and sign up for as many nights as you wish. Just leave the boat name and fleet (on behalf of which you would be volunteering) blank.

When signing up for RC duty, you will be asked to provide your email address(es) and phone number(s). You will receive an immediate confirmation email message when you sign up. Later, you will be sent automatic email reminders 15, 5 and 1 day(s) in advance of your duty. It is unlikely that the RC Volunteer Coordinator will have reason to contact you, but if necessary, they will use the email and/or phone number(s) you provided when you signed up. If these change after you have signed up for RC duty, you may wish to advise the RC Volunteer Coordinator.

If all the race nights are filled (don’t forget the Frostbite series in October) then you will not be penalized for not doing RC Duty. If the RC Volunteer Coordinator or the race bosun needs a volunteer due to a cancellation, you may be contacted to volunteer. If you manage to get to the end of the season without volunteering while still racing regularly, you will be required to sign up for RC duty at the beginning of the next season, before you start racing.

Send an email to the RC Volunteer Coordinator.

Page maintained by RC Volunteer