What Does A Race Officer Do?

As Race Officer I’m in charge of what goes on out on the water. We've put together a team of proficient people to run the races. We have resourced all the required equipment as needed to run the races.

And then what we do is we sit down every morning, and we have a bit of a look at the weather, then we plan what race or what course they will do for that day.

At about 10 o'clock, we'll send them off on their journey around the islands. We place a finishing line and then we wait for them to come back.

To ensure safety we’ve got safety boats and fast response boats that follow the fleet around the islands in case there's any requirement for that.  

After that we just hope that the breeze does the right thing. We get some nice, eight to fifteen knots everyday with some sun and that everyone will enjoy themselves.

We try to run good fair races and make sure that we select a course that suits the breeze and tides. We don't want them punching into a current because if a current turns then they have to turn back into the current and that’s not a lot of fun. So, we try to even it out so everyone can have a good sail with the current and tide in their favour.

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Airlie Beach Race Week Race Officer Kevin Wilson, Photo Credit: R Jean Photography

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