US Sailing recently appointed Eric Rimkus as the Area L Race Officer (ARO). Eric has raced throughout the NW, volunteered as a judge or race officer for numerous events and was instrumental in creating OCSA’s Protest Committee and overseeing local race protests. We are fortunate to have Eric’s expertise and knowledge with races.
The following email excerpt provides information on his role and objectives:
My primary goals moving forward are to:
- Re-establish relationships between US Sailing and the local sailing organizations (LSOs) of Area L. This area is one of the largest in US Sailing, at around 600,000 square miles (excluding Alaska); spanning from the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountains; from the Siskiyou Mountains of Southern Oregon to the Canadian boarder; and including Alaska. This presents unique difficulties in interacting and sharing resources due to distances and isolation. As I have traveled around the region there is definitely a feeling of local self reliance. I am here to assist your organization with US Sailing Regattas or qualifiers and to serve as a liaison with US Sailing for other issues that you may encounter.
- Increase the number of trained and certified race officers in the region. As an area, we currently lag far behind other US Sailing areas on the number of certified race officials. I hope to change that during my tenure. We enjoy racing on the open ocean, in open water areas and protected bays, on rivers with strong current and on remote mountain lakes. Each of these venues bring unique and varied challenges to race management. As a Club Race Officer Instructor I am available to present the US Sailing One Day Race Management Seminar to interested members of your organizations. This one day class is an excellent resource for new race officers as well as a great refresher for those who’ve been involved in race management for many years. The one-day seminar is the first step toward certification as a Club Race Officer. The benefit of certification is two-fold:
- For the certified race officer, they and the boats they are aboard during regattas are insured by US Sailing. For myself, this was my primary motivator for initially becoming certified.
- For the competitor, certified race officers provide a quality of racing that is consistent between different venues. They ensure compliance with the Racing Rules of Sailing and standardize the product delivered to the competitors at all levels.
For these reasons I encourage LSOs to reach out to me to coordinate an event in your area.
- Facilitate individuals to achieve or advance certification as Race Officers, Judges and Umpires. Having gone through the certification process myself as both a judge and a race officer, I know how frustrating it may, at times, seem and I want to be here to help and advocate for interested individuals any way that I can.
- Provide any assistance needed by your organization with developing or reviewing race documentation (Notices of Race and Sailing Instructions), finding or training race officials, or coordinating US Sailing youth and adult regattas and qualifiers.
As you can see, the duties of the ARO are quite varied, but I am here as a resource for your organization. If you have any questions or need regatta assistance at any time I am always just an email away.
Thank you very much for your time and I look forward to working with each of you going forward,
Eric Rimkus
Regional Race Officer & National Judge
US Sailing Area L ARO
