Why do I have to do a duty?

Duties are of course a condition of membership, but it is important that members understand the
reasons behind the concept of duties.
It appears that some people think a duty crew is there solely to support racing activities on a given
day, but this is not the case.

The functions of a duty crew are as follows:

• To provide safety cover for ALL sailing and on the water activities (cruising, racing, training etc)
• To provide a basic galley service for ALL members on the day regardless of the activity being
  pursued (sailing, walking, spectating etc)
• To provide the opportunity for ALL members to contribute to the smooth and efficient running of the club by performing necessary maintenance tasks
• To safely and efficiently run the designated racing programme on the day
• To provide an opportunity for members (both established and new) to meet and socialise with other members, and to find out more about what their club has to offer them, and as importantly what they can offer the club

Crews are expected to attend as described in the duty booking in order to provide the above services, unless otherwise advised. Duties an racing start and finish at different times thoroughout the year.
Regardless of your designated title on the day, remember that all duty crew members should be
prepared to turn their hand to a variety of jobs as required, in addition to being race officer, safety
boat officer etc. (you should therefore bring a range of suitable clothing)
Finally remember that although some people seem to be reluctant at the prospect of a duty day,
the majority enjoy the experience once the day is underway. A huge amount of work is put into the
club on a regular basis by committee members and key helpers, but the success of a sailing club
such as ours will always depend on the willing participation of its membership!
Duty Requirements
Each membership is required to do at least two duties each year, and Members shall be excused
duties only by express agreement of the Committee or on payment of a sum as determined by the
Committee and paid at the same time as the relevantsubscription.
Exceptions for 1 or all Duties may include:

• Thursday work crew.
• Committee members.
• Medical exemptions on application and agreement from the membership and duty secretaries.
• Extenuating circumstances such as a recent bereavement or caring responsibilities, upon application and agreement from the membership and duty secretaries

Work Parties

There is additional work needed to be done through the year which members are expected to
volunteer for, to help with the general maintenance of the clubhouse and grounds. These extra
volunteering duties are notified via the Y&Y , Club Facebook page and Email.

Winter Sailing Duties

Any member wishing to race from November to March must sign up to a sailing duty to ensure
adequate safety cover.

Regatta Duties

Members attending the annual Regatta week are expected to sign up for duties. The rosters and requirements are publicised prior to Regatta

Your role as Officer of Day (OOD) is to oversee the day and delegate tasks to your duty crew; you might need help in the galley at busy times, you may need fuel for the safety boats, or review the conditions with the Race officer and Safety boat helm(s). The duty crew for the day should be aware of what is required of them, the portal provides details for each duty role.

Please find a comprehensive guideline below to help you. 

• Please arrive with 6-8 pints of semi skimmed milk, and enough cake for about 30 portions. (During colder months 4 pints and 20 portions should be enough, and remember we have a cooker so hot food like pasties/sausage rolls etc are good in the cold.)
• A Committee member will be up to open the store cupboard and give you the keys for the clubhouse and boat shed doors.
• Ensure that you sign the duty crew in, using the online system as per the instructions by the left-hand computer on the race table.
• Brief your team in order to clarify their duties and ascertain competencies and confidence. A five-minute group meeting to introduce and get to know the rest of the team is helpful.
• Ensure the crew are dressed correctly for their duty, if they are on the powerboats they must wear appropriate clothing, and buoyancy aids. In an emergency they must be capable of getting into the water for a rescue.
• Check the race schedule for the day, there will be a copy on the race board.
• Discuss the wind strength with the Race officer (and the Sailing Secretary if they are at the club), if it is deemed too windy cancel the racing. See guide at back of book.
• Check the fuel levels in the safety boats and jerry cans (Yellow container). If necessary, delegate a crew member to buy some UNLEADED fuel. (Tesco in Cirencester is the closest). Money will be reimbursed at the end of the day or send receipt to the treasurer.
• Ensure the Safety boat crew take the safety kit out on the water. A first aid canister which contains knife and spare kill cord. Throw line, fire extinguisher this can be found in the store cupboard and need to be returned at the end of the day, 1st aid kits need to be replenished if used. Kill cords are stored with the respective fuel container in the yellow container.
• Please ensure all boats have a radio, they should be worn around the neck not left on the floor of the boats as this leads to wet unusable radios, and they do not float.
• Committee Boat – Check fuel Kill cord attached to key in safe. Battery Jump pack in store cupboard if needed. Race Board, flags and numbers kept on board in summer, but stored ashore in winter.
• Make sure all visitors sign the day book.
• Be aware of what is happening on the lake at all times, non-racers and children will be sailing all day. KEEP YOUR SAFETY BOAT CREWS ALERT.
• Ensure you have a full crew for the whole day as everyone is expected to help with the clearing up; Cleaning materials can be found under the sink or in the galley cupboard
• At the end of the day make sure everything is locked up and hand any keys to a Committee member.Please refer to the “End of Day check-list for your Duty crew.
• If in doubt as to how to proceed just ask a Committee member.

Role of Race Officer

You will need to take the comm. boat kill cord out with you. The cabin door key is attached to this. You will also need the red metal fuel can from the boat shed which you will connect it to the fuel line on the boat.

Please take a radio and the comm. boat safety bag with you. In it you will find a knife, a whistle and a space blanket. It is kept in the store cupboard and should be returned to the cupboard at the end of racing.

Those wishing to race will sign on for the relevant race on the computer.

Get out on the water early (at least an hour before the start of racing) and get an idea of wind direction, trends and calm areas to avoid.

Please do your best to start races as the advertised times.

The only time races times can last minute prior to a race is if they are postponed (i.e. due to wind conditions or other delays). Please DO NOT bring races forward (during the main racing between start of May – End of Oct).

Start times can only be brought forward by the Sailing Secretary and when we have enough time to communicate this change to members.

Decide where you would like the start line and windward mark to be.  The start line should be perpendicular to and directly downwind from the windward mark (which can be either a numbered buoy or the moveable big black buoy).  The start line should be as long as possible.  Anchor the Committee Boat fore and aft to stop it swinging and drop in the inner distance marker a few metres to port.  Make sure the hooter works, and all the required flags are on board.

Decide on the rest of the course – ideally the first windward mark should be rounded to port and be followed by a reach.  The rest is up to you (apart from the Olympic Series- see separate race file for details) but try to include a mixture of all points of sailing including a dead run, a reach and another beat.  The handicap system only works fairly if this is achieved.  One lap should ideally take about 15 minutes.

Chalk the course on the board about half an hour before the start of the race and don’t change it again after this.  Set the number of laps – you can guess or just set it to 10 and shorten on the water.  Remember, you can always shorten course on the water but never lengthen it!  Include the start-finish line as a mark of the course, otherwise the average lap system can’t be used and all boats will have to complete the same number of laps.

Get out on the water again 15 minutes before the start of the race and make last minute adjustments to the start line if the wind direction has shifted.  Make sure you take with you the list of signed on boats and 2 working stop-watches (one should have a count-down sequence).

Go through the start sequence using the appropriate flags (see separate sheet).  Use the stop-watch with count-down facility as the main timer and start the back-up watch when the race starts.

N.B. It’s the flags that count and need to go up and down on time, not the sound signals!

Look out for premature starters (and boats over after the one minute warning if the ‘I’ flag has been used and they are required to round the ends – if they don’t, they must be disqualified!)  The start line is between the mast of the Committee Boat and the Pin End buoy – the inner distance marker has no significance, other than keeping boats away from the Committee Boat.  If any boats are over, note their numbers, raise the individual recall flag (‘X’ flag) and make a single sound signal.  You may call them back, but you don’t have to – if anyone is over, they must come back and restart properly, other wise they will be disqualified.  If there are too many boats over to identify, signal a general recall.

Tick off the boats through each lap and work out how many laps will be required.  You’re aiming for a race duration of about one hour for the majority – the leaders will probably do less, the slow boats may do fewer laps.

If required, shorten course with the appropriate flag and sound signals as the lead boat approaches the last mark of the course.  After this, all boats finish when they cross the line.  If a slow boat is just ahead (but a lap behind), and you don’t want them to do another lap, it is possible to shorten course on that boat instead.  We can make it even more complicated, but we’ll leave that for the advanced course!

Note the time as each boat finishes – it’s when the front of the bow crosses the line.

In the case of asymmetric boats the front of the bow is the tip of the bowsprit unless the boat is reaching across the line with the spinnaker flying, in which case it is the front of the bow, not the pole.

When all boats have finished tuck the flags inside the cabin door before locking it, disconnect the fuel tank and take it ashore with you. The fuel tank should be left VENTED in the boat shed, the safety bag and radio put back in the store cupboard and the kill cord should be back in the key safe. There are simple instructions at the bottom of the signing on sheet to help you calculate the corrected times and finishing positions. Check that they make sense before pinning them on the board! Before these results become final they are checked and recalculated by computer.

Protests are unusual at CSC – try to get the sailors concerned to resolve them amicably without resort to a protest committee.  Note that the Race Officer can’t disqualify boats for other than start line incidents – if a boat has sailed the wrong course, they should be encouraged to retire but they can’t be forced to without a protest from another boat!

Safety Boat Helms

Your role is to ……………….

A useful reminder Safety Boat Helm Refresher Sheet

Preparation for the day

•  Open the boat sheds (key inside the key safe in the galley)
• Check there’s sufficient unleaded petrol for the day (include that required for the committee boat in your estimation). The OOD is responsible for organising the purchase of additional petrol but the SBO is responsible for ensuring the safety boats don’t run out.
• All fuel tanks should remain vented – unless being carried by hand.
• Check each boat has a kill-cord.
• Check each RIB and inflate their walls if necessary.
• Check the tyres of each trailer and inflate if necessary.
• Check the bungs are fitted before launching the boats (obvious I know but…)
• Check which jetty is to be in use for the day (rule of thumb is that when children are around and likely to be in the water we use the jetty where the committee boat is sometimes moored)
• Retrieve the radios from the store cupboard. These are to be used by the OOD, Committee boat (RO) and one for each RIB. Take time to ensure all relevant duty crew know how to use them and test they work ok.
• Safety pots are also in the store cupboard. Each safety boat should take one of these out on the water with them. They contain a knife, a whistle and a first aid box. THESE MUST BE RETURNED TO THE CLUBHOUSE AT THE END OF THE DAY.
• Retrieve the bolt cutters from the store cupboard and store in the Committee boat for the day.

 End of the day

•  Safety boats should be left vented, tidy, drained of any water and rubbish free with the kill cords left in them. Obviously back in the boat sheds!
• Record any breakages, faults, losses etc. on the duty sheet.
• Please return all relevant equipment to the clubhouse: radios, safety bags, boat shed keys, etc.
• Check with the OOD if you are needed to help clean/tidy up etc any areas of the clubhouse before you leave.

Once you’ve signed on you have access to the Race Officer menu:

Center

Before the start of the race select Print Entries for a list of Competitors

During the race, note the position each competitor crosses the line in the lap boxes. At the end of the race make a note of the finish time. Use Code to note any Did Not Start (DNS) or Did Not Finish (DNF)

Entering Race Results

Once the race is completed, return to the Race Officer page, sign in once again and select Enter Results

Center

Enter the total number of laps in the laps box in the top right.

Select the Edit button (Square with a pen in it) for each competitor to enter their elapsed time:

Center

If they didn’t complete the race select the reason code from the Finish drop down list, and if they did less laps than the leader then you need to change this, otherwise just enter the Minutes and Seconds.

Repeat the process for all competitors.

Calculating Race Positions

Once all the results are in click on Calculate Race Results to view the results once the handicaps have been applied:

Center

If you are happy that everything is correct, then click Lock in Race Results to ensure that no further changes can be made. Once the results have been locked only the Sailing Secretary has access to Unlock and make changes, so if you are in any doubt leave the results unlocked.

Pursuit Races

Pursuit races are operated in the same manner however, you only need the finishing position when entering the competitor results:

Center

SAFETY BOAT CREW (SBC)

Your role is to assist the Safety Boat Helm and will be given full instructions at all times. You must be comfortable being in the water and on the power boats.

Come appropriately dressed for a day on the water for the day’s weather conditions including if have to enter the water.

SBC ROLE will involve:

-assisting with launching and putting away of safety boats.

-assist in movement of BIG orange marker bouys if needed.

-assist with any support or rescue of sailors and their boats.

The racing system can be run from an iPad or tablet with 4g connectivity. The club provides an iPad that you should find already charged near phone and computer, together with the standard race entries sheet, pen and stopwatch. Technology is great, but not infallible.

From the RO Menu Page, select the races you want to start, you can select as many races as required and start them all at the same time by clicking the Select Race button, which will turn green once selected.

Center

Once races are selected, Start Races will turn green and you can move on to the timed start …

Center

You can sync the start with any of the starting hooters, or just hit start now when the race gets underway.Note

Do not leave this page until the race has started, if you navigate away from the page the timer will stop and the race will not start.

Center

You can now click New Lap as each competitor passes the line, until the end of the race when you click Finished. If competitors retire from the race, click the retire button.

General Recall can be used up until a competitor has completed a lap.

Manual allows you to manually update any of the details if something is missed.

Center

Tip

If you need to start another race (in the case of two starts for Fast/Slow fleet), click Back to return to the RO Menu, you can then select the next race and start in the same way, all competitors are then available on the live page.

Once the race is finished click Save Results, then you just have to click the Calculate Results and Lock the results from the Entries page.

Not only does this reduce the errors and save time when entering the results after each race, in most cases you can probably complete the results for the race before you get back to the clubhouse.

It also allows spectators’ a new view of the racing as it happens as the Handicap results are available from the “Todays Races” page

Once finished, please return the iPad to where you found it and put it pack on charge ready for the next RO

CSC – Using the duty roster system

You can now book your annual duties at Cotswold Sailing Club via the membership, this system allows you to pick the dates and duty you would like to do, just remember its “first come first served” as soon as you’ve renewed for the year, we suggest you book your duties.

You can log in to the membership system here https://membership.lake9.co.uk

Your username is the email address of the family member that renewed or registered your membership with CSC. Your password is the one your created at the time. If you’ve forgotten the password, then use the “Forgotten Password” link to generate an automated email that allows you to create a new password.

Once you’ve logged in you will be presented with your membership details and a menu that looks like this …

The layout of the menu and the website pages will be different depending on the device you are using, but the system should work equally well on Phones, Tablets and Laptops/PC’s. However older devices and browsers may not support some of the features such as Calendar controls.   

Select “Your Duties” from the menu to view the duty summary page and to select your first duty.

From this page you can see and select to edit any previously booked duties, together with any swaps that have been requested by other members.

To book a duty select the family member who will be carrying out the duty from the drop-down list, and click “Find Duty” to move onto the next screen…

Once here you can select the type of duty and the period and search for available duties. Please note if you are either a qualified Race Officer or Safety Boat Helm your choices of duties are restricted to those duties only.

Once you’ve found a date and duty you can perform then click the Duty Date to continue.

You can view the details and the duty and see all the other members that are on duty that date, once you’re satisfied you have the correct duty and date, click Assign Duty to finish.

Then simply repeat the process for each member of the family until you’ve allocated all your duties.

Duty Swaps

If for some reason you can not make a duty that you have assigned yourself for, you can request a swap. To do this navigate to the duty summary page and select the duty you wish to change and click “Request a Swap”.

We suggest you post a message in the CSC Face Book group, requesting a duty swap, if you are struggling to find a member to swap with please contact the Duty Secretary (duty.roster@cotswoldsailingclub.org) for assistance.

Duty Attendance

The committee are committed to ensuring the club runs smoothly throughout the year and to do this we need to know that all members have attended their allocated duties.

Two or three weeks prior to your duty date you will receive a reminder email, asking that the you confirm with the Officer of the Day (OOD) that you will be attending. Please ensure you respond promptly to this email so the OOD knows they have a full crew available to them.

Then on the day of the duty please ensure that the OOD updates your attendance, therefore ensuring you don’t receive an unwanted email from the Committee!

Attendance Instructions for OODs

To ensure the club can maintain an accurate record of all the duties that have been carried out by the members throughout the year, we need some additional support from the OODs each week.

In previous times it was the OOD was expected to call and email each member who was on duty on their day, this has now been replaced by an automated email which will be sent to all members on duty a couple of weeks before hand. Within that email, the members are asked to contact the OOD, either by phone or email, to confirm their attendance.

CSC would like the OOD to register whether the member has confirmed attendance, via the membership website, therefore allowing the Duty Secretary and the committee to check we have full duty cover in advance.

Once you have received confirmation from a member, log on to the membership site at and use the menu to navigate to the Duty Crews page.  Select the date of your duty and you will see a list of all the members signed up on the roster.

You can then use the tick and cross buttons to confirm their attendance, or otherwise.  And then on the day of the duty those options change from “Confirmed Attendance” to “Confirm Attendance”, so you can update the records to show whether the member did or didn’t show up.

It’s important that the OOD completes this process, if you are in any doubt please contact duty.roster@cotswoldsailingclub.org we need to know if any members let us down so appropriate action can be taken in the future.

At the Club House

We accept not all members will remember their login details and on the day of your duty it made be necessary to check the schedule and retrieve members contact details.

There is a special version available of the duty roster available at https://clubhouse.lake9.co.uk which can be accessed by the PC on the LHS of the far counter in the club house.

Even without logging in you may be able to determine who is due on duty from the Duties page…

However, if you enter your email address (it must be registered within the membership database), you will be instantly sent a six-digit pin number which you can use to login which will display the full names and contact details.

Furthermore, if the user that logs in is the OOD for the day then there are addition buttons that allow you to confirm each member’s attendance…

Please use the radios. It is important that duty officers can alert each other to any situations, (emergency or information based) that arise.

We have 6 radios and a base station in the galley.

• One for the race officer.
• One each for the safety boat officers.
• One for the officer of the day, when he is on walkabout. If in galley the base station can be used.

Instructions

50% h

• Switch on the handhelds using button on front of the radio.
• To talk press in button on side of radio and speak into the face of the radio, do not put too near your mouth when talking. Let go of the button when waiting for a reply.
• All radios are tuned to the same frequency and everyone should be able to hear everything that is being communicated.
• Do a radio check outside the clubhouse away from each other as you will have interference if the radios are too close to the base station.
• In the Galley there is a hand held mike with a button on the side to press when speaking.
• Ensure all the radios are secured in their cases and wear them around your necks tucked into the top of your buoyancy aid. DO NOT PUT THEM ON THE FLOOR OF THE BOAT. Our radios are submersible, but do they not float !
• At the end of the day dry off the bags if wet and switch the radios off. Place them back in their chargers

Note

IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS PLEASE ASK, AS IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT WE USE THE RADIOS.

Radio Basic Voice Conventions

• Give your message in your normal voice.
• Press the talk button and talk, remember to give your name.
• If you require an answer to your message say ‘OVER’
• When you have finished say ‘OUT’.
• Do not interrupt another transmission. If you have important information relevant to the subject call ‘RELEVANT’ when the unit talking says ‘OVER’.
• Clear precise messages using the correct procedures can save lives.

Warning

Please report any lost, damaged radios to a committee member. If no one else at club, phone a committee member.Note

Remember the radios are there for safety and to save lives in an emergency, they need looking after.

Cleaning Materials	All cleaning materials can be found either under the kitchen sink or in the galley cupboard.
Floors	Sweep and wash the floors throughout the clubhouse.
Carpet	Hoover the carpet.
Surfaces	Wipe down tables, worktops, window sills and walls below windows where there are muddy footprints.
Toilets	Clean toilet bowls in ladies and gents and if needed.Check and refill toilet rolls if necessary, spare ones are kept in the disabled toilet. Spare soap is kept in galley cupboard.
Wash Basins	Clean all the washbasins.
Showers	Clean showers and mirrors, leave shower curtains open to dry.

Extra Cleaning Check list

If it is quiet there are additional cleaning jobs below which can be done anytime during the day. These are not a requirement of your duty but will be appreciated.

 

Kitchen	Clean the cooker, fridge, microwave and cupboards
Windows	Clean windows in and out
Bins	Clean kitchen bins and recycling bins inside and out
Blue Mats	Take the blue mats outside and give them a scrub

Bins Emptied	Empty the bins. Bin bags in drawer by sink (spare bags in galley cupboard) . Two large industrial wheelies are situated by main gate. Ensure that general waste and recycling waste are put in the correct bins. Black bin bags must never be used in the recycling bin.
Clubhouse Cleaning	The clearing up will generally start about 5 – 5.30pm. All of the duty crew are expected to help and stay until the job is done. See separate cleaning check list
Galley Tidy	All galley stock put away, fridge emptied of stock. A small quantity of milk can be left. Leave the Microwave door open
Switch off utilities	Ensure all electric plugs in the kitchen are switched off and that the gas cooker is all switched off. The electric switchover the back door needs to be left on. Leave the radio plug on. It is standard practise to leave the Gas boiler on full time, so this shouldn’t need to be touched.
Stack chairs	Check that all the plastic chairs are stacked in a corner. Leave a pathway to phone
Secure windows	Secure all windows including the ones in the conservatory. The small windows in the changing rooms are fine to be left open. Leave the doors between the conservatory and the clubhouse open.
Secure Clubhouse	All external patio doors and front door must be locked at the end of the day.
Handover	Keys to be handed back to a committee member for storage in the safe
Sand Pit	Check the sandpit for debris and ensure the cover is put back over.
Lock gates	It isn’t necessary to be the last person to leave in the summer; people will often stay on for BBQ’s etc.

SAFETY BOAT CREW = SBC

Your role is to assist the Safety Boat Helm and will be given full instructions at all times. You must be comfortable being in the water and on the power boats.

Come appropriately dressed for a day on the water for the day’s weather conditions including if have to enter the water.

SBC ROLE will involve:

-assisting with launching and putting away of safety boats.

-assist in movement of BIG orange marker buoys if needed.

-assist with any support or rescue of sailors and their boats.

Log in online	Welcome, please sign in on-line. (Left hand PC on the race table.)
Switch on electricity	Switch on the electricity if it is off – you can find the switch situated above the back door. Then you can fill urn in the galley (see urn instructions).
Unlock Store cupboard, Clubhouse and Boat Shed doors	A member of the committee will usually arrive at 10am to open up. They will give you the keys to the galley cupboard and powerboat sheds, which are kept in the safe. Emergency phone details are in the cupboard of the disabled toilet, in case no committee member arrives by 10am.
Prepare the galley	The galley cupboard will contain the following Items: grey float tin (unlocked), coffee, hot chocolate, tea bags, sugar, cold drinks, sweets, crisps, pot noodles, serviettes, serving tray with lid for cakes. Put a display of stock available on counter and if hot weather put a selection of choc and drinks in the fridge. It is a good idea to put a jug of milk, bowl of sugar, cup containing teaspoons and a dish for used teabags on the counter. The busiest times are usually after races so try and be prepared with an urn full of boiling water. The duty crew can have free hot drinks all day.
Check the toilets	Check that all the toilets have loo rolls – if not they are kept in the disabled loo. The key to the dispensers will be hanging on the wall in disabled toilet.
Weather Conditions	Check that the weather is safe for sailing to take place
Sand Pit	Prior to use remove the cover, the sand pit must be raked and left clear of rubbish – please make a note that this has been done in the OOD log. This is a condition of the clubs liability insurance.