RNZYS seeking Professional Race Officer for busy 2020-2021 season

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron are looking for an experienced Race Officer to support an experienced volunteer race management team with running the vast range of sailing events.

The selected candidate be in charge of all RNZYS club racing and major regatta events, they will also be in charge of some major international events in 2021. The Squadron will celebrate their 150^th anniversary in 2021 and have an exciting array of on water events planned.

Some of the highlights for the 2021 calendar are the Mastercard Superyacht & J Class regattas, as well as the recently announced Youth America’s Cup, for all of which the successful candidate will be the Principal Race Officer. 

The RNZYS also run a very large amount of club racing series and races throughout the year, including the Club Marine Insurance Wednesday & Winter Series’, Tuesday Summer Series, and the Stewart 34 Championship Series – to name a few –  The RNZYS principle race officer won’t necessarily need to be present for every single club race – but will be responsible for delivering quality race management on the water.

Other tasks involved in this busy role will include; mentoring, recruiting and training race officers and volunteer race management teams, ensuring all race documents are correct, and working with the Sailing Director to continue to improve the standard of the RNZYS race management teams. 

An ideal candidate would be a well regarded Race Officer with a back ground in competitive racing, who is open to change, new ideas, and using technology to improve race management. The candidate must have a high level of people skills, positive attitude, passion for sailing and the RNZYS, plus an ability to work long hours and evenings when required. 

If you are interested in applying for this role, please see the full Job description below and send your CV and Cover Letter to: jmurray@rnzys.org.nz

Job Description: RNZYS Principal Race Officer and Head of RNZYS Race Management

The RNZYS vision to be the Leading Local and International yacht club requires ‘World Class’ Race management, to achieve this we need a professional Principle Race Officer on staff. 

Reporting to the Sailing Director, the Principal Race Officer will be responsible for:

• Being the Principal Race Officer for all RNZYS sailing events, this does not necessary mean physically present for every event, but responsible for delivering quality race management for all RNZYS sailing event.  
• Be the on water Race Officer for all the Major RNZYS events, these events include the Club Marine Winter Series, Club Marine Wednesday night Series, and other major national and international events held at the RNZYS. 
• Mentor, recruit and train RNZYS Race Officers and race management teams 
• Implement a positive culture focused on delivering a quality product and continued improvement amongst the RNZYS race management teams.
• Manage all RNZYS volunteers, this includes rostering, Health and safety, volunteer reward and recognition programme, grievances and complaints, roles and responsibilities.       
• Work with the Sailing Director to improve the standard of RNZYS Race management through use of technology, improve RM training, systems for sailor’s feedback, data tracking, best practices, policies and guidelines, improved Race Management resources.  
• Working with the Race Manager to ensure all race documents are correct and up to date. 
• Attend monthly Race Management Meetings to resolve any RM issues and implement changes to the RM teams, produce a monthly RM report to the Sailing Director. 

Hours 

• Total of 30 hours per week average over the summer (October-April), (a higher number of hours will be required in February/March but less in December/Jan), reduced to an average of 10 hours a week in the winter. This is made up of 
  • 10 hours per week administration (can be done remotely) 
  • Average of 3 nights per week as Race Officer (10 hours) 
  • Average of 2 weekends per month (10 hours)

Ideal candidate:

A well regarded Race Officer with a back ground in competitive racing, who is open to change/new ideas and using technology to improve race management for the sailors. High level of people skills, positive attitude, passion for sailing and the RNZYS, ability to work long hours and evenings when required. 

Ideal qualifications and skill set:

• International Race Officer, Judge or Umpire, 
• Competitive and well respected sailor 
• Ability to use and develop technology

Able to take direction, ability to think outside the box and implement change.