Checklist for Skipper's Meeting

• Risk Assessment.  See “Decision to Race” for information the PRO needs to gather before the skipper’s meeting.  If you have decided that the risk is too great to conduct races, announce it here.  If not, provide information about NWS watches and warnings and water temperature to the skipper’s in attendance so that they may make their own assessment vis a vis their boat, their skills, and their crew’s skills.
• Go over tide and wind forecast.  If it is a heavy wind day, you might remind the skippers that wearing PFDs is a good idea and what the flag looks like that REQUIRES PFDs.   If it is a light wind day, you might suggest they get started early.  You might also discuss under what circumstances you would or would not shorten course.  
• Number of starts? Find out how many boats will be racing in each class.  If there are classes with fewer than 5 boats, you have the option of combining them with another class.
• Postpone ashore? If there is no wind, you may want to announce that you will be postponing on land right after the meeting.  The downside is that you cannot start a race for 45 minutes after the flag comes down.
• Where to sail? On rare occasions the sailors may prefer to sail by the power plant instead of Hains point in order to be close to home if a storm comes through, for example.
• Checking in:  Remind skippers to check in on the water by sailing by the RC boat and hailing their name and hull number -- you will see their sail number.  Skippers should also let you know when they are going home early.  For safety try to keep track of who is on the course.
• Towing Boats -- If it is a light wind day decide whether to offer to tow boats and what the time deadlines are.  For example, announce that you’ll tow those in the water and ready to go at 10:30 but then wait until 10:40.
• Fourth race? – get the sense of whether sailors would be interested in a fourth race.  I recommend this for beautiful days or days when the races end up being 30 minutes or less for the lead boat.
• Starting on time – you are not allowed to wait for late boats to get there.  Let skippers know that you intend to start on time.
• Key items from the sailing instructions – I consider them to be fairly standard but you might mention that …
• The start line has red flag on pin.  Finish line has blue flag on pin.
• Tell skippers that the Sailing Instructions don't require you to hail the sail numbers of over early boats and that the RC will focus on their primary responsibilities first and may not get to calling sail numbers.  So, if sailors hear a blast after the start and look back to see the X-ray flag go up, they need to make their own judgment of  whether they were over early or not.
• Announce that you have a few copies of the sailing instructions for new or guest boats (Most skippers should get them from the website.)
• Announce that you have membership applications for skippers AND crew who have forgotten to renew and prefer paper to the web.