It has been a long and complicated process to formulate the rest time rule for the
singlehand participants in the Round Denmark Race inshore. Read here about the background, the TRR 44-8 rule itself and about qualifying for future RDR.
Round Denmark Race inshore singlehanded is a monumental challenge. It will be among the most difficult races to complete in the world. This is how it is, among other things. because the long distance of 650 nautical miles and because it takes place in trafficked waters
One of the ambitions of the challenge is that the participants become better sailors, that they gain greater self-insight and that they get to know themselves and their own boundaries better. It’s also among the ambitions to further develop and accelerate shorthanded sailing in Northern Europe is accelerated.
Pro-start from 2022
From 2022, the ambition is for participants to be able to compete in a "Pro Start". This is a race that has no rest time rules at all, but this race is not for everyone. The participants in a future Pro Start must qualify by completing a RDRi where the Tactical Resttime Rule TRR 44-8 applies. You can see the rule at the bottom of this article, where examples of how it can be used are also given.
Only a few complete
We expect only a few of the singlehanded participants to be able to complete the RDRi course this year. But those who will make back it back to Aarhus are the same few sailors who show good seamanship, who have good judgment, who manage to listen to their body and mind and who have a good route planning paired with the right sleep strategy and who work closely together with their shore crew.
Flexible rest time rule
As changes are a big part of sailing it does not make sense to make inflexible rest-time rules. Situations may arise where an inflexible rest -time rule will force the participant to exhibit poor seamanship, and where an inflexible rule will be anti-intuitive both in relation to common sense, good seamanship and tactical/strategic actions on the course.
There is therefore a need for a rest time rule that ensures the participants sleep, which meets the participants' quest to seek the favorable weather and to avoid unfavorable situations.
Here is the rest time rule 2021: TRR 44-8
The race is divided into periods of 44 hours. Within these 44 hours, a minimum of 8 consecutive rest-time hours must be taken. Thus, a maximum of 36 consecutive hours of sailing is allowed (44-8 = 36). The 8 hours resttime of each period will be subtracted from the final elapsed sailtime. Restime above 8 hours for each 44 hours period will not be subtracted.
Time penalty and disqualification
If a participant exceeds 36 hours of non-stop sailing, he/she will receive a yellow card warning* and a time penalty of 4 hours. This time penalty must be taken at the next stop, which will lead to a rest-time of minimum 12 consecutive hours (8 + 4) .
If a participant completes 37 hours of non-stop* sailing, he/she will receive another yellow card followed by a red card which means that he/she is disqualified from further participance in RDRi ’21. The first yellow card sticks for the remaining part of the race. This means that a sailor can only exceed 36 hours of non-stop sailing once* during the entire race as two yellow cards equals one red card.
*) A dispensation can be granted if the participant contacts the race office in good time and explains in a sensible way why he/she will exceed the 36-hour limit. It is the sovereign decision of the race office whether the participant's explanation is credible and whether it is taken into account or not. If it is taken into account, the excess time spent sailing is added to the mandatory 8 hours rest-time at the next stop.
Example:
Aarhus, Saturday 19 June at 1300 starts the first 44 hour period. It runs until 09 Monday morning. The sailing direction in this example is clockwise.
Wind forecast:
The first 24 hours:
For the evening and night changing south wind below 2 m/sec. At night gradually increasing to light winds from the southwest below 5 m/sec. Sunday morning still southwest 6 m/sec.
The following 24 hours
Southwest turning west and northwest increasing to 6 to 8 m / sec.
Participant 1
A participant feels lucky and hopes to find local sea/land breezes up along the Jutland coast. It turns out to be difficult and after 28 hours and 96 nautical miles he/she takes a break on Sunday June 20 at 17.00 in Sæby harbor. Here he/she takes his/her 8 hour break. She/he chooses to resume sailing at 01.00 Monday morning with heading towards Skagen.
At 09.00 on Monday the next 44 hour period will start.
After 24 hours with an average speed of 6 knots, participant 1 arrives at Helsingør at 01 on Tuesday June 22. Here he/she will rest for 8 hours and on Tuesday at 09 the participant resumes sailing again.
Participant 2
Another participant does not believe in luck and chooses to sail the first 18 nautical miles on the local summer sea breeze and reaches Øer by Ebletoft, where he / she goes into port after 6 hours at 1900. At 03 on Sunday morning June 20, sailing resumes. The wind increases as promised and is stable from the southwest. After 16 hours at 19 Sunday he / she passes Sæby. At 01 Sunday the participant rounds Skagen. Period 2 starts at 09.00 Monday. At 10 Monday June 21 he/she enters the port on the island of Anholt (the passing of Anholt starboard or port is optional). The participant has sailed for 31 consecutive hours. The sailing can be resumed on Monday at 18.00.