Recognizing a deceased racing sailor

International Umpire David Pyron helped to create a celebration of life ceremony with a sailing twist:

We recognized our deceased racing sailor with a 1-minute on-the-water “Individual Recall” remembrance ceremony. The ceremony was well received by his family and fleet, and we found it a thoughtful way for the fleet to say goodbye to our fellow racer.

Individual Recall is the racing signal that lets a competitor know they have left too soon (started early). Outside of sailboat racing, Individual Recall can be interpreted a number of secular and non-secular ways. Two we thought of were: (1) our sailor’s soul was recalled; (2) personally, you left us too soon.

The ceremony was communicated and coordinated with the fleet and was held prior to normal Wednesday night racing. In our case, the family attended on a spectator boat.

• The fleet was asked to park below the starting line.
• The PRO made an announcement to stand by for the special start and signaled with repeated horns.
• Race Committee signaled a 1-minute start sequence by displaying the class flag (of our sailor’s fleet) with a black flag (optional) and a horn.
• The 1-minute period was used to remember our sailor.
• We sailed the sailor’s boat over the line early and parked head-to-wind above the fleet.
• At the end of the 1-minute sequence, the Race Committee signaled Individual recall.
• In our case, the fleet responded by blowing horns to pass on the RC signal. (There are options on what to do here)

Additional thoughts:
• Coordinate with the family, fleet, and chaplain well before hand.
• We chose a race our sailor would normally sail in.
• We chose remembrance instead of moment of silence because of the safety issue of being on boats.
• The fleet actions at the individual Recall signal should be tailored to the sailor. We chose to blow horns (explained next). More formal options might include playing taps, reciting something over the radio, a bosun whistle, a prayer, etc. Whatever might be appropriate for the family and fleet and reflective of the sailor.
• We chose to blow horns to pass on the individual Recall signal as loud as possible. This was inspired by something that always brings me a smile – when Opti sailors pass on the Individual Recall to their competitor.
• After the ceremony, in our case, the RC reset the line and went into sequence for planned racing that day.
• Rules nerds like myself can choose between the symbolism of the black flag annotating the special start, versus the last sentence of rule 29.1.