Yacht racing is the sport of competitive sailing. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Sailing is the art of controlling a Sailing vessel. By changing the Rigging, Rudder and dagger or centre board a Sailor manages the force There is a broad variety of kinds of races and sailboats used for racing. Much racing is done around buoys or similar marks in protected waters, while some longer offshore races cross open water. All kinds of boats are used for racing, including small dinghies, catamarans, boats designed primarily for cruising, and purpose-built raceboats. A dinghy is a type of small Boat, often carried or towed by a larger vessel A catamaran (From Tamil 'kattumaram' is a type of Multihulled Boat or Ship consisting of two hulls or vakas joined by some The Racing Rules of Sailing govern the conduct of yacht racing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, model boat racing, dinghy racing and virtually any other form of racing around a course with more than one vessel while powered by the wind. The Racing Rules of Sailing (often abbreviated to RRS govern the conduct of Yacht racing, windsurfing kitesurfing model boat racing Dinghy racing and virtually
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Types of races
Harbour or buoy racing
Harbour or buoy races are conducted in protected waters, and are quite short, usually taking anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. All sorts of sailing craft are used for these races, including keelboats of all sizes, as well as dinghies, trailer sailers, catamarans, skiffs, sailboards, and other small craft. Keelboat has two distinct meanings related to two different types of Boat. A trailer sailer is a small yacht or large dinghy style of sailboat that is moved to sailing locations and stored on a road trailer A catamaran (From Tamil 'kattumaram' is a type of Multihulled Boat or Ship consisting of two hulls or vakas joined by some A competition, or regatta, usually consists of multiple individual races, where the boat that performs best in each race is the overall winner. A regatta is a term used to describe either a Boat race or series of boat races The most famous such event is the America's Cup, but harbour races are common anywhere there is a community of sailors. The America’s Cup is the most prestigious Regatta and Match race in the sport of Sailing, and the oldest active Trophy in international A notable example is found in Bermuda, where the Bermuda rig, now almost universally-used on small sailing vessels, can still be seen in its purest form in the Bermuda Fitted Dinghy, used for a series of races contested each year by the colony's yacht clubs. Ba (officially The Bermuda Islands or The Somers Isles) is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. The term Bermuda rig refers to a configuration of mast and Rigging for a type of Sailboat and is also known as a Marconi rig; this is the typical The ' Bermuda Fitted Dinghy' is a type of racing-dedicated Sail boat used for competitions between the yacht clubs of Bermuda. Bermuda also played a role in the development of the International One Design. The ' International One Design' (IOD International is a class of Sail boat used for sail racing.
This kind of race is most commonly run over one or more laps of a triangular course marked by a number of buoys. The course starts from an imaginary line drawn from a 'committee boat' to the designated 'starting' buoy or 'pin'. A number of warning signals are given telling the crews exactly how long until the race starts. The aim of each crew is to cross the start line at full speed exactly as the race starts. A course generally involves tacking upwind to a 'windward' marker or buoy. Then bearing away onto a downwind leg to a second jibe marker. A jibe or gybe is a sailing maneuver where a Sailing vessel turns its Stern through the wind such that the wind direction changes from one side of the Next another jibe on a second downwind leg to the last mark which is called the 'downwind mark' (or 'leeward mark'). At this mark the boats turn into wind once again to tack to the finish line.
Inshore racing
Inshore racing is yacht racing not in protected waters but along and generally within sight of land or from land to nearby islands, as distinct from offshore racing across open water and oceans. The duration of races maybe daylight only, overnight or passage races of several days. Depending on location, stability and safety equipment requirements will be more extensive than for harbour racing, but less so than for offshore racing. Different levels of requirement for navigation, sleeping cooking and water storage also apply. These races are suitable for many club racers including Junior Offshore Group (JOG) yachts, and certain trailer sailers meeting race requirements. The Junior Offshore Group (JOG is an organiser of offshore Yacht races in the UK using IRC handicap system A trailer sailer is a small yacht or large dinghy style of sailboat that is moved to sailing locations and stored on a road trailer
Offshore racing
Offshore yacht races are held over long distances and in open water; such races usually last for at least a number of hours. The longest offshore races involve a circumnavigation of the world.
Some of the most famous offshore races are the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, the Transpacific Yacht Race, the Fastnet race, the Bermuda Race, the 2005 Rolex Transatlantic Challenge, Hamilton Island Race Week, and the West Marine Pacific Cup. For the current edition of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race see 2007 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. The Transpacific Yacht Race (Transpac is an offshore yacht race starting off Point Fermin near Los Angeles and ending off Diamond Head in The Fastnet race is a famous offshore Yachting race. It is considered one of the classic offshore races The Bermuda Race, or Newport Bermuda Race, is a biennial Yacht race from Newport Rhode Island The 2005 Rolex Transatlantic Challenge was celebrated at the 100th anniversary of the 1905 race for the Kaiser's Cup also known as The Great Ocean Race. Set against the backdrop of the Whitsunday Islands, on Queensland's Great Barrier Reef - Hamilton Island Race Week has evolved to become Australia's premier Keelboat The West Marine Pacific Cup is a yacht race from San Francisco California to Kaneohe Hawaii on the island of Oahu. Several fully-crewed round-the-world races are held, including the Volvo Ocean Race (formerly called the Whitbread Round the World Race), the Global Challenge and the Clipper Round the World Race. The Volvo Ocean Race (formerly the Whitbread Round the World Race) is a Yacht race around the world held every three years 65 The Global Challenge (not to be confused with Global Challenge Award) is a round the world Yacht race run by Challenge Business the company started by Sir Clipper Round the World Yacht Race was conceived in 1995 by well-known yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and together with William Ward founded Clipper Ventures,
South African yacht clubs organise the South Atlantic Race (the former Cape to Rio race), the Governor's Cup from Cape Town to St. Helena Island, and a race between Durban and Mauritius.
Single-handed ocean yacht racing began with the race across the Atlantic Ocean by William Albert Andrews and Josiah W. The sport of single-handed sailing is Sailing with only one Crewmember (ie Lawlor in 1891; however, the first regular single-handed ocean race was the Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race, first held in 1960. The Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race, or STAR, is an east-to-west yacht race across the North Atlantic. The first round-the-world yacht race was the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race of 1968-1969, which was also a single-handed race; this inspired the present-day VELUX 5 Oceans Race (formerly the BOC Challenge / Around Alone) and the Vendée Globe. The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race was a The sport of single-handed sailing is Sailing with only one Crewmember (ie The VELUX 5 OCEANS Race is a round-the-world single-handed yacht race, sailed in stages The Vendée Globe is a round-the-world single-handed yacht race, sailed non-stop and without assistance Single-handed racing has seen a great boom in popularity in recent years.
There is some controversy about the legality of sailing single-handed over long distances, as the navigation rules require "that every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper lookout. The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972 ( COLREGS) are published by the International Maritime Organization (IMO and set out the "rules . . "; single-handed sailors can only keep a sporadic lookout, due to the need to sleep, tend to navigation, etc. [1]
Other races
Certain races do not fit in the above categories. One such is the Three peaks yacht race in the UK which is a team competition involving sailing, cycling and running. The Three Peaks yacht race is held each year in June in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located
Yacht Clubs
Many town yacht clubs hold their own racing teams for both juniors and adults. The junior devisions are usually held under US Sailing's Junior Racing. Popular multi yacht club events are held by US Sailing that can sometimes include more than 100 entered boats per race making up the regatta. Junior sailing usually consists of optimist, 420 and laser boats that are broken down further depending on skill and age levels. Age levels are usually from either 8-18 or 8-20/21 years old.
Classes and ratings
Many design factors have a large impact on the speed at which a boat can complete a course, including the size of a boat's sails, its length, and the weight and shape of its hull. A sail is any type of surface intended to generate Thrust by being placed in a Wind &mdashin essence a vertically-oriented Wing. Because of these differences, it can be difficult to compare the skills of the sailors in a race if they are sailing very different boats. For most forms of yacht racing, one of two solutions to this problem are used; either all boats are required to be identical (a one-design class), or a handicapping system is used. One-Design is a Racing method where all Vehicles or Boats have identical or very similar designs or models For "handicap" as it refers to disabled persons see Disability. Other approaches include use of "open" classes or construction classes.
In one-design racing all boats must conform to the same standard, the class rules, thus emphasizing the skill of the skipper and crew rather than having the results depend on equipment superiority. Examples of popular classes include Islander 36, Flying Scot, Etchells, Snipe, Star, Soling, Thistle, Lightning, Laser, and J/24. ISLANDER 36 SAILBOATS Although Islander had been an active sailboat manufacturer for many years they unfortunately ceased operations during the recessionary mid 1980's The Flying Scot is a day sailer dinghy used for pleasure sailing as well as racing throughout North America. The Snipe is a foot 2 person one design racing Dinghy. Designed by William Crosby in 1931 it has evolved into a modern tactical racing dinghy with fleets around the world The International Star (or Starboat) is a 69 m (227 ft one-design racing keelboat for two people A Soling is a small class of Keelboat designed by Jan Linge of Norway in 1965 The Thistle is a high performance racing dinghy, also used for day sailing, popular in the United States. See also Blue Jay Sailboat a smaller version of the lightning The International Laser Class sailboat, also called Laser Standard and the Laser One is a popular One-design class of small sailing dinghy See also Sailing J/22 J/27 Sloop Each class has a detailed set of specifications that must be met for the boat to be considered a member of that class. Some classes (e. g. the Laser) have very tight specifications ensuring that there is virtually no difference between the boats (except for age) - these classes are sometimes called strict one-design. Other classes allow more variation, such as allowing both wood & fiberglass hulls (e. g. the Albacore) or other changes that do not give a theoretical advantage. At important regattas the boats are measured prior to the event to ensure that they do conform.
An open class is based on a box rule, which specifies a maximum overall size for boats in the class, as well as features such as stability. Competitors in these classes are then free to enter their own boat designs, as long as they do not exceed the box rule. No handicap is then applied. Since it is essentially based on the use of custom boats, such events are generally limited to high-budget racers. Popular examples of open classes are the Open 50 and 60 classes used in single-handed offshore events. The sport of single-handed sailing is Sailing with only one Crewmember (ie However the Moth class is an exception, with boats being no longer than 11 feet.
A construction class is based around a formula or set of restrictions which the boat's measurements must fit to be accepted to the class. Resulting boats are all unique, yet (ideally) relatively close in size, cost and performance. America's Cup is the most famous competition involving construction class boats. The America’s Cup is the most prestigious Regatta and Match race in the sport of Sailing, and the oldest active Trophy in international Perhaps the most popular and enduring construction formula is The Metre Rule, around which several still popular classes were designed. The International Rule, also known as The Metre Rule, was created for the measuring and rating of yachts to allow different designs of yacht to race together under a handicap
When all the yachts in a race are not members of the same class, then a handicap is used to adjust the times of boats. The handicap attempts to specify a "normal" speed for each boat, usually based either on measurements taken of the boat, or on the past record of that kind of boat. Each boat is timed over the specified course. After it has finished, the handicap is added to each boat's finishing time. The results are based on this sum. Popular handicapping systems in 2006 include PHRF, portsmouth yardstick, IRC (Sailing), and ORR. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Performance Handicap Racing Fleet ( PHRF) is a Handicapping system used in Yacht racing. The Portsmouth Yardstick (PY or Portsmouth handicap scheme is a system of Handicapping used in Yacht racing. IRC is a system of handicapping sailboats and yachts for the purpose of racing Earlier popular rating systems include IOR and IMS.
Classes of sailing dinghies, skiffs, yachts and multihulls
References
- ^ Keeping a lookout is easier said than done, by Bill Schanen. Sailing Magazine. Retrieved February 13, 2006. Events 1258 - Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
See also
External links
- The Governor's Cup, Cape Town to St. Helena Island, 1690 nautical miles (nm)
- Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, 630 nm
- Royal Ocean Racing Club
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