Race Management Team

Since the ORCV’s establishment as the Organising Authority for Victoria’s offshore racing, the club has maintained an enviable record for the safe and efficient conduct of our offshore racing program.

This record rests on three pillars:

• Together with Australian Sailing, setting appropriate safety standards and ensuring a competitor compliance regime.
• Training programs for competitors - including our well-known Safety & Survival at Sea, Practical Navigation and Weather courses.
• The less well-known but critical work of our Race Directors and Incident Management Teams.

Expressions of Interest Open

We are now calling for those interested to become involved in our incident Management Program or who would like to commence training as a Race Director to express their express their interest. 

Register your interest here

The ORCV’s Race Management team comprise:

• Volunteer Race Directors: senior ORCV representatives that take overall accountability for a race, both from a safety and competition perspective.
• Volunteer Race Assistant Race Director: supporting the Race Director, working with the race entry, race results and competitor tracking systems, liaising and supporting the Media team.
• Volunteer Incident Management Team: a team on standby to assist with any incident should it occur.

Race Directors need not only strong communication skills, but they also need team leadership skills and the ability to think on their feet. The use of enabling technology is also critical for the role to be fully effective. With a Risk Management focus, they will ensure fair and inclusive competition as well as conduct briefings and presentation events. They are the primary point of contact for many of the race stakeholders during the event. They will need to have experience in Race Administration to direct their team and undertake hands-on tasks themselves. As representatives of the ORCV they will need to follow all ORCV policies and procedures. It is expected a Race Director will have at least 5 years of Ocean Racing experience and ideally have been involved in preparing (boat, equipment and entry) as well as leading (e.g. skipper or watch leader) in offshore races. Race Directors will liaise with and report to the ORCV Sail Captain. The Race Director responsibility starts when ORCV Office Staff has completed and hands over.

Assistant Race Directors also need strong communication skills and need to be comfortable working with technology (laptop, internet, online systems, data entry). They need to be careful in terms of accuracy and aware in terms of spotting errors or anomalies. Some Assistant Race Directors work remotely, others at the finish line of a race. Assistant Race Directors will liaise with, and report to, the Race Director.

As representatives of the ORCV, both Race Directors and Assistant Race Directors will need to follow all ORCV policies and procedures.

The Incident Management Team develops response plans for effective management and communications should an incident occur, as well as assist with contingency planning as input to ORCV’s Incident Management Plan. This role will often liaise with Search and Rescue services. They are on standby, called in only when required.

The Race Director's Role

The Race Director’s (RD) role includes:

• Overall responsibility for fair and safe competition: Delivering an event in accordance with the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions, managing changes through a formal Notice to Competitors process
• Handling protests, should there be one, together with the Sail Captain
• Ensuring handicapping has been completed, checking for errors and ensuring systems have been uploaded with the correct handicap
• Recording race finish times, penalties and calculation of race results
• Preparing and conducting briefing and presentation evens as required, together with the marking/event team for social aspects of the events
• Being the “face of the race”, dealing with stakeholders and working with Marketing team for social media updates
• Leadership of Assistant Race Directors with occasional hands-on Race Administration
• Standby Incident Manager (depending on circumstances)

The Assistant Race Director’s Role

The Assistant Race Director’s (ARD) role includes:

• Ensuring race management systems have accurate data. This means checking data entered by others and hands on data entry in many aspects including; Race Results, Trackers, Communications systems
• Supporting the Marketing team for social media update content
• Competitor marine radio, SMS and Email communications, for example sked updates
• Standby Incident Management (depending on circumstances)

The Incident Manager’s Role

The Incident Manager’s role includes:

• Full awareness of the ORCV Incident Management Plan and contribution to its ongoing development
• Liaison with Search and Rescue authorities
• Communication with participant Emergency contacts
• Together with Media team, preparing social media announcements
• Briefing of the ORCV Commodore (or delegate), Sail Captain (or delegate) and through them the Committee
• Subject to circumstances, communication with other stakeholders such as the media
• Competitor support which may involve logistics such as travel and accommodation
• Desirable skills and experience include
• Ocean sailing experience – at least as a crew member but ideally involved with race entry, preparation and on-water leadership
• Club level yacht Race Management experience
• Sea Safety and Survival training, ideally with First aid training too
• Computer and Internet skills
• Relevant specialist skills such as social media experience

Members who wish to become involved in our Race Management teams will need to commit to assisting with at least one race per year and to participate in regular ongoing training.

Next Step – How and When

Register your interest here which will collect with your experience, contact details and which of the roles you are interested in. We will call you to discuss the opportunities further and to answer any questions.

Training is modular and comprises:

• Race Management team welcome and overview (Separate to training and as required - online 1hr)
• Incident Management Team online (**self paced approximately 4 hours) comprising of three modules
• Incident Management Team in person (approx 3 hours) including race van familiarisation
• Race Management systems and processes overview online for RD/ARD (**self-paced, approximately 2hrs)
• Race Management systems and processes hands on for RD/ARD (1 day, large group)
• Assistant Race Director hands on mentoring/coaching (during a race)
• Race Director responsibilities and case studies (1 day, small group, dates TBA)
• Race Director and Assistant Race Director hands on mentoring/coaching (during a race)

** These self-paced training modules will become progressively available during the first two weeks of September.