Regatta Start Procedure

As under the previous starting procedure crews should be at the start in sufficient time. They are obliged to be attached and ready to race two minutes before the official start time. This means tops off, water bottles stowed, riggers checked etc.  Two minutes before the start time the Starter will call “Two Minutes”. This is the notification that you are now under starter’s orders. At this time you should ensure that your boat is straight but there is no need to come forward just yet – stay relaxed as long as you can ! 

Between the two minute call and the official start time the starter will start the race. He must however first establish that all boats are straight. If they are not he may ask a sculler/crew to straighten their boat. He will then start a roll call – “Athlunkard, Bann, Carlow, DUBC, Enniskillen, Fermoy”. One of the reasons for the roll call is to allow crews to make final adjustments to their steering. For this reason it should not be rushed and ideally starters should allow about 2 seconds between calling each crew. Crews are not expected to acknowledge the roll call. They are however expected to keep their boats straight during this process. Once the roll call starts the starter will not pay any attention to crews who raise their hand or call “not ready”. Crews should obviously continue to make minor adjustments during the roll call but should be ready to start as soon as the roll-call ends. 

A few seconds after the roll-call, the starter will then call “Attention”. After this the starter will raise the red flag. (Starters – please note you raise the red flag after calling attention, not at the same time). Following a pause of variable length the starter will start the race by calling “Go” while simultaneously dropping the red flag to one side.  

In the event of windy conditions the starter may adopt the “Quick Start”.  The starter will advise the crews that he/she intends using the quick start. The initial steps are the same but instead of the roll-call the starter will call “Quick Start” followed by “Attention” and the rest of the start command.

 If a crew arrives at the start after the “Two minutes” have been called the starter may award a warning in the following manner:  “Crew A, late at the start – warning, please acknowledge”

If a crew breaks the start they will receive a warning in the following manner “Crew B, false start, – warning, please acknowledge”

A new introduction is a warning for disobeying a marshal or official or contravening traffic violations. In this instance the starter will award the warning in the following manner: “Crew C, traffic violation, – warning, please acknowledge”