OzFclass

This is a question that I have tried to have clarified numerous times at matches - and I post this query here instead of directly to NRAA because I think others might equally appreciate a clarification from someone amongst us who truly knows the answer - without speculation, please.

Attached is relevant excerpt from the NRAA F-Class rule book. To me it is reasonably clear, but perhaps not entirely consistent with what happens in practice. After the first shooter has gotten things moving, subsequent shooters, according to the rule book, have 5 minutes (not the 3 minutes which I've often heard espoused) to prepare to shoot AFTER the shooter occupying 'his' position has fully vacated the mound - if it safe to assume that that is the trigger to the starting of the 5 minute clock. I doubt that any scorer currently is marking that trigger time down, but... So 5 minutes after the last bit of gear from the shooter occupying 'my' position on the mound, right? Is that a confident yes? Potentially in the face of that, the previous provision - Provision 4.1.1.8, states that the allowed shooting time commences simply when new scorer announces that it has. If scorer isn't familiar with this 5-minute rule - and I guarantee some - if not most are not, is it considered bad form to reply to the question "Are you ready?" with something like "No, but I'll let you know when I am.", and take two or three minutes to fiddle around with settings, keeping an eye on the flags, take a couple of dry-fire shots, etc? The best I've been able to muster to date has been "Almost!", while getting totally flustered and racing through the processes of preparation - forgetting half of what I'd been thinking about re flag behaviour over the previous period. I guess I'm looking for assurance that its OK to incite rule 4.1.1.9 in the heat of battle, when circumstances, such as the all-too-common concurrence of a dead-slow departure of the earlier shooter still occupying 'my' position on the mound while chatting with a mate about how tough the wind changer are, and the current shooter taking a more direct tactic to wind conditions machine-gunning his or her way to a new 12-shot NRAA completion speed record while the going is good.

John, the rule is quite clear and you have every right to ask for the remainder of your 5 minute preparation time.

Thanks Peter. Coming from you, I regard that as a definitive ruling - and end of story!

Prior to the 5 minute Rule the time allowed for preparation was three minutes.
With the advent of F Class, it became obvious that the rule needed to be changed.

The following could actually happen and still does.
A shooter finishes their shoot and as often happens, takes 2 or 3 trips to clear their gear off the mound.
In the meantime the next shooter starts and takes only 2-3 minutes to complete their shoot. Often the mound next door has not even cleared before the shoot has finished, leaving the new shooter still waiting to get access to the mound.
The old rule said that the next shooter's time commenced 3 minutes after the previous shoot was finished. That made things messy at times if an over-officious Scorer stuck to the 3 minute rule.
Therefore the NRAA changed the rule to 5 minutes after the mound was cleared and available for the new shooter to put down their gear and get ready to shoot.

Sometimes, if I know I'm following a a fast shooter I make a note of the time my mound becomes clear. Then if the scorer says to me "Are you ready?'", I can reply "I haven't had my full 5 minutes yet, and I'm not ready."

Don't be afraid to say that. Its easy to get flustered and rushed, usually giving bad results for your shoot.

What Peter said
I’ve had to stop a scorer from starting the time due to the previous shooter vacating the mound slowly. 5 minutes after the previous shooter vacates then plus your time depending on the distance being shot is usually enough to get through in F class.

Rule 4.1.1.9 was one of many that were born out of discussions in the early days of this forum. It was first proposed in 2009 when we were trying to get support for squadding all disciplines together on the ICFRA target. We were concerned that TR shooters in particular would be aggrieved if fast F-Open shooters caused the short preparation time problem. It finally made the SSRs in mid 2011.