Recruit young people for race committee

Photograph courtesy of US Sailing. 

What a great editorial in Scuttlebutt today*. I have often written about youth sailing programs being unfit for purpose. Yet I never thought about the fact that most race committees choose the most experienced, and hence often oldest, club members to populate race committee posts. That effectively does several things to disadvantage both the race committee and the youths. 

Without experience on RC, young people don't understand how decisions are made. So they feel like decisions may be made against them unfairly. When they serve on RC, they get a deeper understanding of the rules and interpretation of them. They also gain the training to populate the next cadre of RC members. 

A succession plan for effective RC management makes perfect sense, involves the kids at a decision-making level, passes on skills from one generation to the next, and could possibly prevent a Moosehead from being awarded. 

*Jamie Jones (Area Race Officer, Area E) explains in this US Sailing report the original source of the article.

https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2021/03/08/putting-youth-in-your-race-committee/