A national umpire seminar was organised at NJK, in Helsinki in 18-19 February. There were nine participants, who were new to umpiring and five, who already had the NU / IU status. The seminar was, like many times before, ran by Mats Björklund, an international umpire and national judge, with extensive experience from, among other things, America’s Cup and the Olympics.
The seminar was timely especially because the Racing Rules of Sailing were updated at the beginning of the year. Even though there are not many changes on top of adopting the test rules from last couple of years into the rule book, it is always good to refresh one’s mind at the beginning of the new season.
The seminar and the written test which concludes it are not a walk in the park, unless you come prepared. Out of the 11 who took the written exam at the end of the course, four passed. Two of the four were already with Umpire status, so they took the test just to show that they still remember things. The other two, Mika Lindholm and Janne Timonen, passed the test for the first time. Congratulations!
In order to be eligible to apply for the National Umpire status, they still have to pass an on-the-water assessment at one of the G4 events or higher and be part of the umpire team in at least four events. After this their yacht club can recommend to the National Authority, SPV, that they be granted the NU status.
Text & Pic by: Juuso Leivonen