Friday, 4 July 2008


Next to the rules, umpires always discuss passionately there pairing. With whom they are going to do the matches.Mostly because it reflects on where you are in the "pecking order". Are you considered to be experienced in this particular group or less so? I know it is subject where "long toes" are a factor. Where you stand is not very often talked about openly and with the whole grouping system shrouded in "secret" assessors, many of the umpires feel uncomfortable to share their thoughts.

SG's picture from Kiel Week Woman Match Race 2008; we did have some interesting obstructions

I've only just become a IU, but it already has an impact. As a National Umpire doing work with a more experienced IU, I could rely on that any mistakes and omissions I might make, where corrected by that IU.As an IU I now find that I'm more and more in a position where I am the one paired with a less experienced umpire. Any faults are contributed to me. Fair enough, I should know not to make them.

But this also means that my exposure to more experienced umpires is less and less. I can't first hand do matches with them and see and talk about how they do it. The ISAF has set up a MENTOR program to deal with this. I've applied and will shortly be assigned a mentor to help me continue to develop my skills.The umpire manual has a few examples how Umpires can be paired for matches. Although many variables are to be considered, the first thing one has to do, is make sure that the maximum of combinations is achieved.

I've made an Excel file where a couple of possible rotation systems are set up. Depending on the number of boats and matches in a flight and depending on the level of attending umpires, combinations can be found. In the spreadsheet are some of the examples from the manual and some of my own: 6 boats= 3 ump.teams + 1 wing and no wing, for different groupings of more or less experienced umpires. Also 4 boats= 2 ump.teams + 1 wing.

A 3 * jury chair
B 2 *
C 1 * chief ump
D 4 *
E 5
F 6
G 7
H 8

If you set up the names in the provided column, a pairing is automatically generated. * in this example the first four are the most experienced umpires.

UMP1 2 + 5 4 + 7 2 + 8 2 + 7
UMP2 3 + 6 3 + 5 4 + 5 3 + 8
UMP3 1 + 7 1 + 8 1 + 6 4 + 6
WING 4 + 8 2 + 6 3 + 7 1 + 5

You can find the file here: Umpire Rotations 2008 v1.xls

I've also added it to the download list.


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