Roadbook

Mark's iist is about right, if pretty overwhelming and one helluva big bite at one gulp, especially on a new ship and/or with a new crew. Look around the crew for support with some of the less core items - where core is determined by your boat, owners, raceing, crew and priorities. Can someone else take on the NOR and SIs etc? Someone else can do the watches, just don't be on one. Can instrument recalibration, polars, crossovers wait until your 4th or 6th outing, when you'll know how good or bad it is ..... crew will tell you willingly enough if they think it is shit. Break the elephant into lumps you - and your crew - can chew on.

Thanks that helps.

Whilst I'm not a professional navigator, there are a number of good articles by Peter Isler, Will Oxley, Simon Fisher, Stan Honey and Cambell Field (to name a few) on preparing for a race that you can search for on the web. I would read as much as you can and ask the good guys for advice. I have found them all to be accessible and free and generous with advice.

Clearly what you prepare depends on the race, the location and the weather amongst a myriad of other considerations.

The role of the navigator has evolved from 'tell me how to get to the mark and not hit anything solid (range and bearing) to all of that plus managing the race strategy that will get me around the course faster than my competitors (strategic planning, monitoring and prediction) - the latter being much more about preparing, planning and on the water data analysis.

(It a good idea to have the crew responsibilities agreed and documented so that nothing falls through the cracks.)

The basics for the strategic navigator would include:

. Review NoR and SI, especailly starting sequence and finishing, radio scheds, shortened course provisions, protest, penalties, amendments, safety categories, etc. No doubts about this and if so ask questions at the pre-race breifing

. Check all navigation equipment and have a backup plan, including how will you navigate if everything (or something) goes down (handheld GPS, GPS watches, etc, etc with the marks and course updated, plus laminated paper charts, hand held compasses, binoculars, and the list goes on, all the way down to pencils and wet notes, protest flag). One of the best navigators I know, Kingsley Peisse (35 Hobarts, etc) writes the bearing to all marks on a strip of gaffer tape and sticks it to the steering pedestal - brilliant and used very often, instead of having to go downstairs!

. Understand the accuracy and currency of the polars, sail crossover charts, calibration setup and how the information is displayed on the instruments. IS it damped, amended in your routing program or raw? This matter is often overlooked and has a major bearing on pretty much everything the navigator does - you call to steer 110deg mag and the compass hasnt been swung recently and its off by 3deg. Is that important or not? IMHO the navigator must 'own' the instrumentation system.

. Check all comms - radio, AIS, wifi, internet connections, etc, especially how are you going to charge anything that runs on batteries.

. Double check and plot the location of the marks, no go zones, lee shores and safe passage (ensure that you have a plan and a 'plan b' and anticipate the next question coming from the skipper)

. Monitor weather conditions / tides/current in the race lead up and contribute to sail selection and all associated decision making

. Routing scenarios as the weather and weather models stabilise and plan with the 'brains trust' big picture

. Analyse the accuracy of the weather models to actuals and recommend the TWS and TWD adjustments for routing

. Roles and responsibilities - who does what if you have or dont have a tactician and how will decisions be made

. Watch system and how the navigator will work in with this (sit out)

. Brief the crew about the race, the weather, what to expect and what the basic plan is, what sails are being packed, in what order, etc, etc (eg. they often dont know what gear to bring and wing it and double up)

. Manuals and contingency plan - you must have all the manuals for everything onboard and preferably in pdf. Yacht racing is often about troubleshooting a probelm and jury rigging something.

. Monitoring and analysis during teh race - how long have you got?

. Paperwork - ensure that you have this sorted before, during and after the race.

. Debrief - be prepared to hold a crew debriefing as you hit the dock and before the beer starts flowing and people vanish- what did we do well and what areas do we need to improve. This is always better if its data based rather than opinion based. So you have to have a good data capture and analysis system like Expedition, Tactiqs, Model Accuracy, KND, etc and have a standard format for presenting the information

And the list goes on . . it really depends on your level of seriousness and the type of race.

I hope that helps and is what you were looking for.

What things should a navigator prepare for.

I thought about preparing text document before with all critical info’s about the course, weather etc.

To have a look on documents like that as inspiration could be helpful.

By 'roadbook' can you be more specific please. Do you mean 'what things should a navigator prepare for' or 'what should a navigator be responsible for'?