RACING
Clubs and Classes

Once you learn the basic skills of yachting, the best way to get more from the sport is to join a yacht club. Apart from providing the right environment for you to continue your yachting activities, there you will find the company of like-minded people who enjoy the sport and who will be happy to help and advise you.

If you don't own, or plan to buy a yacht, the Sailing club is where you will meet helmsmen who are seeking crews to help them sail. Of course the top racing helmsman have regular crews, but crewing for others is a good way to learn more about the sport.

If you are planning to buy a yacht, wait until you have chosen the club, which you intend to join. There are hundreds of different designs of yachts sailed in the world today, but only a handful are sailed in fleets at any single club. It makes sense, therefore, to choose one of the classes, which are popular at your club. You will also find that the club notice board is one place to find details of boats for sale locally.

If, however, you already have a yacht, the best course of action is to contact your class owners association. Virtually all of the popular classes have a lively class association, which usually publishes a newsletter giving details of open meetings, rallies, championships and social events. The class association will have a complete list of all the sailing clubs where that class is sailed, enabling you to find the nearest.

In the majority of sailing clubs and classes, the activity centers on racing, so a Two-day Starters Course includes a very brief introduction to this aspect of the course. If you want to learn more, try a advanced three-day course for the AY Level 2- Day Skipper Course.

One-Design-Rating Class-Handicap Racing
Back to Introduction to Sailing Syllabus

Sailing yachts used for racing may be grouped into three main categories: one-design, rating, and handicap.

One-Design boats come in numerous classes, and all boats belonging to a particular class are identical. In one-design racing, consequently, success is determined by seamanship rather than by differences in design or equipment. Especially popular with sailors of modest means are the smaller one-design boats, of the Optimist or the Laser class, for example. These range from about 2 to 12 m (about 7 to 40 ft) in length.

Rating-Class boats differ slightly from each other in certain particulars such as length of hull, displacement, and sail area. All boats of a given class conform, however, to a certain overall rating arrived at in accordance with a set mathematical formula. The success of a rating-class sailboat consequently depends to some extent on the expertise of its designer.

Boats differing widely in size and design compete in Handicap Racing. The boats are measured according to certain rating criteria and are assigned an appropriate time allowance factor. The handicap system enables small and shallow-draft boats to race on equal terms with larger and deeper craft.

Sailing Instructions
Back to Introduction to Sailing Syllabus

Yacht races are usually run over a course marked by a number of buoys. At your sailing school or AY Yachting Center, these may be laid just for your race, and your Instructors will brief you on the order in which they are to be rounded.

At many sailing clubs, the racing marks are permanently moored, and it is the job of the Race Officer to decide their rounding order to suit the wind direction, tide and weather conditions on a particular day. That order will either be displayed on a notice board ashore or by signs on the race box or committee boat. In any event, you'll need to know where the buoys are located and remember (or make a note) of the rounding order.

Because racing brings so many boats into close proximity, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) publishes a detailed set of Racing Rules. It is every helmsman^’s responsibility to know and abide by those rules. The basic rules of the road are included, of course, but the ISAF Rules (available from their Website) also include what to do when rounding marks, starting and so on.