Runners...responsibilities

[fvracerone1]

I recently had the opportunity to race on a boat with "runners'/ This was my first ecperience with runners. I was given the assignment of handling the runners, To make a long story short, we were over early and the skipper gybed as I was sitting near the rail, not expecting the quick gybe. It got pretty heated in the cockpit area as we went quickly back to make ourselves clear and he then obviously gybed back. Normally how many people should be on runners at the start and what is proper procedure to do with the "lazy" runner. Leave it loose near the winch, give it a wrap, what is common procedure....?

New guy....

[nolatom]

with running backstays, if you're making quick, short (or no)-warning jibes, there should be one crew on each backstay winch. As soon as the boom comes away from the old "lazy" stay, tension it up, using the second crew on the other side as a sheet-tailer if necessary.

Then, it's a one-crew job to ease off the new leeward lazy stay.

The most critical thing is tensioning the "new" backstay, for obvious reasons.

Normally, at the start of a race (to windward), no one need be near the runners. If you're over early, then you have to change gears fast.