Martina Magri, Sailing Officer:“It is better to cancel a competition than to have a fright”

The normal news is to read about the results of the competitions, the sailors that have been crowned winners or the nautical club that has organized the event, but we can also talk about how the journey has been, how the track was decided or those responsible for the organization of the competition.

At Passion for the Sea we wanted to get to know better the work of the Sailing Committee and each and everyone of the members that are part of the team and discover the point of view of the organization. That is why, Martina Magri, sailing competition Officer, has visited our center to explain what her job is in the nautical competitions.

“The Sailing Officer is the one who decides how the competition is going to work. That person decides the route, the distance…” explains Magri who adds that the functions are “from deciding to go in or out of the water, at what moment, if the race is prolonged or not…Everything that has to do with the water”. 

Even though it is a competition for ten boats or for 200, the race needs a major media deployment and a team in charge of the organization of all the aspects of the competition: from the signals of the route, the wind measurement at all times, give the exit, following the boats so that they don’t commit any rule breaks, change of routes due to the weather conditions, the arrival…

For that, in the Sailing Competition Committee we find the Sailing competition Officer and the jury. “The jury does not take part in the organization, but does in the decisions” explains Magri. But also “one has to realize that the people who places the buoys, the arrivals and the observers are a vital part of the team” she adds. A job that would not be able to do without the help of assistants “they tend to people of the club or sailors that at that moment are not at sea” comments Magri who started in the Committee Sailing as an assistant to a legend who left us almost 5 years ago at Sailing Competition Officer Guillermo Patiño.

Other than Guillermo Patiño, Magri has other referents as Inés Cabrer and Ariadna Patiño, “they are two women in the Balearic Islands where there are not many feminine figures like these two are, which are in the international sailing world” explain Magri, who after practicing in various competitions as an assistant to Inés Cabrer decided to study to be an Officer for sailing competitions.

“The Federation has done a great effort to make official courses” recognizes Magri. In these courses, which tend to have a duration of a couple of days, they teach other than rules, responsibilities, ethic… “if the wind blows you you have to know there will be a moment that you will have to make a change of track or to cancel because you are not being just to the rest of the team” recognizes Magri.

This decision to cancel or not a competition, tends to be complicated for the Officers of competitions. “About some weeks ago we were talking about it and we said that it is always better to cancel even though the people say that they can hold on. I rather that they are home, on land, rather than being at sea and have a scare” ensures Magri. In the end the Officers of the sailing competitions are responsible for not only the race but also of everybody that is in the water.