Standing on the bank after the race (speaking to Ron) I could see how difficult it is to identify racers out on the water. There was a suggestion from John Boulter that people have a single number on their sail but I think that there may be a less drastic option than that (I for one would prefer not to put a number on my sail).

Most of us have different coloured sails (primarily red, green, blue or black) so how about prior to the race, we are given a streamer and allocated a batton number to attach it to. For example, Tim might be 'red 1' and have it attached to his top battern whilst I could be 'red 2' and have it attached to my second batten. Other racers may be 'blue 1' or 'green 1' and I think that the colour/number system would be sufficient for the numbers that we have racing. It should then be a simple case of ticking people off after each lap that they complete, rather than trying to keep track of actual positions througout the race.

Not only would this make it easy for Ron to quickly identify people (since he could have the names and colour/number written on his race sheet and regular racers could even stick to the same number) but it will also make it clear to the racers who is taking part and who is simply getting in the way of us all!

I'd imagine that for the most part, we wouldn't need to have the same colour/number in the same race but if we did, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out which of two racers it is (especially if they are different sizes or gender).

What do other people think?

Yes Mike. I agree it would help in slalom. Obviously in slower course racing it is less critical.I assume that it is easy enough for the judge to distinguish which batten the streamer is flying from. The race judge needs good eyesight. Ideally you need two judges, one shouting out as you pass the line and one filling in the form, as it's hard to write and watch at the same time.

The club should buy the streamers out of the £1's we pay each week.

Also it would help with the old "how many laps have we done?" thing. I just can't seem to count accurately myself - I rely on the hooter.

Stickers is not so good an idea, there are too many the same, plus who pays?

Numbers would work, but yes it is a bit too formal.