As previously noted the 2016 Final Fling will now be raced on the morning of Sunday 30 October from the BSC Line.  David Chivers is our Race Officer and will be running a special start for us after the BSC race which starts at 11.00. High tide is at 11.39 and the forecast is for a lovely light to moderate breeze.

The first BSC Winter Series all in handicap will start at 11am on their normal 5 minutes sequence using the illuminated number board system with their course displayed on the front of the box. We are asked to please ensure we keep well clear of their starting line to avoid any confusion.

In the unlikely event that there is a general recall for the Winter Series race this will have to take priority as their sailing instructions assume they are the only fleet.  Therefore David would recall the Winter Series boats and then restart them before being able to get us underway.

Once the Winter Series boats are on their way down the creek, David will change the course letters and numbers over to a BOD course and he will get the computer system reset for our race which will also use the normal 5 minute sequence with the illuminated number board system.  All being well he should be in a position to start our sequence about 10 minutes after the Winter Series.  Obviously if there is any delay to the BSC Winter Series race, our race will be delayed accordingly too. Please also remember that because he has to restart the system you will need to start your watches on our five and not any of the Winter Series start signals as the two will not be linked as they normally would.

Just to be quite clear, once David has restarted the system it will initially show numeral 0 again which will indicate that he is almost ready and you should be listening and watching for the five. At the five minute gun numeral 0 will disappear and 1 will appear.  At the four minute gun 1 will disappear and 2 will appear.  At the one minute gun 4 will disappear and 5 will appear.  At the start 5 will disappear.

Sorry for this slight change to the usual arrangements but the Winter Series Sailing Instructions only allow for a single handicap fleet and we need to avoid any possible confusion with their race and to keep a small amount of separation.