Yacht Racing

Information about Yacht Racing

Inshore yacht racing on Sydney Harbour, Australia

Yacht racing is the sport of competitive sailing. 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.

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, catamarans, skiffs, sailboards, and other small craft. A competition, or regatta, usually consists of multiple individual races, where the boat that performs best in each race is the overall winner. The most famous such event is the America's Cup, but harbour races are common anywhere there is a community of sailors. 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. Bermuda also played a role in the development of the International One Design.

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. 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.

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 and the West Marine Pacific Cup. 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.

Single-handed ocean yacht racing began with the race across the Atlantic Ocean by William Albert Andrews and Josiah W. Lawlor in 1891; however, the first regular single-handed ocean race was the Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race, first held in 1960. 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. 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..."; 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.

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. 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. 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 Flying Scot, Etchells, Snipe, Star, Soling, Thistle, Lightning, Laser, and J/24. 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. 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. Perhaps the most popular and enduring construction formula is The Metre Rule, around which several still popular classes were designed.

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. Earlier popular rating systems include IOR and IMS.

Classes of Sailing Dinghies, Skiffs, Yachts and Multihulls

[]

Classes of sailing dinghies, scows, sharpies and skiffs (worldwide)

Classes of Keelboats (Worldwide List)

Classes and types of catamarans, trimarans and multihulls (worldwide list)
A-Catamaran \| ARC 17 \| ARC 21 \| ARC 22 \| Astus 14.1 \| Astus 16.1 \| Astus 20.1 \| Beachcat \| Sprint 15 \| Dart 16 \| Dart 18 \| Dragonfly 800 \| Formula 16 \| Formula 18 \| Hobie \| Mystere \| Proa \| RC 27 \| RC 30 \| Taipan 4.9 \| Tornado \| Open Ocean Performance Sixties \| Unicorn

References

1. ^ Keeping a lookout is easier said than done, by Bill Schanen. Sailing Magazine. Retrieved February 13, 2006.

External links

Watski Skagerrak TwoStar (June 14-17, 2006)
Royal Ocean Racing Club
Peter Lester NZ yachting commentator
Compete-At-Sailing, Clubs and Events Listing, Manage Regattas

Sailing is the art of controlling a sailing vessel. By adjusting the rigging, rudder and dagger or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails (main and/or jib) in order to change the direction and speed of a boat.
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buoy is a floating device that can have many different purposes, which determine whether the buoy is anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift. The word is most commonly pronounced ([bɔɪ]) (as in buoyant
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\ A dinghy is a small utility shi-ewCPQG'V U]] carried by a larger boat, or the term can refer to a class of small racing yachts or small recreational sailing boats. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have a small outboard motor while others may use a small sailing rig.
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HSC Tarifa Jet, Large, commercial high-speed catamaran ferry.]]

A catamaran (from Tamil kattu "to tie" and maram "wood, tree") is a type of boat or ship consisting of two hulls joined by a frame. Catamarans can be sail- or engine-powered.
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Cruising may mean:

Cruising (driving), driving around for social purposes, especially by teenagers
Cruise (flight), in aviation
Cruising (maritime), leisurely travel by boat, yacht, or cruise ship

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Keelboat has two distinct meanings, related to two different types of boat.

One is a keeled boat built for the navigation of rivers, especially in America. It is similar to a riverboat, but is typically controlled with oars or poles.
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regatta is a term used to describe either a boat race, or series of boat races. Although the term typically describes racing events of unpowered watercraft, some powerboat race series are also called regattas.
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Sport Sailing
Founded 1851
No. of teams 13 (2009)
Country(ies) International
Spain (2009 Host)

Most recent champion(s) Alinghi

Official website [1]

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Motto
"Quo Fata Ferunt" (Latin)
"Whither the Fates Carry [Us]"
Anthem
God Save the Queen (official)
Hail to Bermuda (unofficial)
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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 configuration for most modern sailboats.
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'Bermuda Fitted Dinghy' is a type of racing-dedicated sail boat used for competitions between the yacht clubs of Bermuda. Although the class has only existed for about 130 years, the boats are a continuance of a tradition of boat and ship design in Bermuda that stretches back to
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'International One Design' (IOD, International) is a class of sail boat used for sail racing. It is a 33-foot open cockpit day sailer used for Harbour racing, rather than for overnight, or ocean races, such as the Newport–Bermuda Yacht Race.
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Tack is a term used in sailing that has different meanings in different contexts.

Sail

The tack is the lower corner of the sail's leading edge. On a sloop rigged sailboat, the mainsail tack is connected to the mast and the boom at the gooseneck.
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jibe or gybe is when a yacht turns its stern through the wind, such that the direction of the wind changes from one side of the boat to the other. The term wearing ship is used in square-rigged ships for jibing
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circumnavigate a place, such as an island, a continent, or the Earth, is to travel all the way around it by boat or ship. More recently, the term has also been used to cover aerial round-the-world flights.
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Sydney Hobart Yacht Race (sometimes referred to as the 'Bluewater Classic' in the Australian media) is hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starting in Sydney, Australia on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart.
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The Transpacific Yacht Race is an offshore yacht race starting off Point Fermin near Los Angeles and ending off Diamond Head in Honolulu, a distance of around 2,225 nautical miles (4121 km).
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The Fastnet race is a yachting race in the United Kingdom. It is considered one of the classic offshore races. It happens every two years, and is a course of 608 miles. The course is unusual, as it begins off Cowes, travels to the Fastnet Rock off the southwest coast of Ireland,
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The Bermuda Race, or Newport Bermuda Race, is a biennial yacht race from Newport, Rhode Island to the island of Bermuda, a distance of 635 nautical miles (1175 km) across open ocean.
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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. In this race, there was a skipper named Charlie Barr who raced the 3-masted schooner called Atlantic
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The West Marine Pacific Cup is a yacht race from San Francisco, California to Kaneohe, Hawaii on the island of Oahu. The enjoyable exercise in Yacht racing is run in even-numbered years by the Pacific Cup Yacht Club and sponsored by West Marine.
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Volvo Ocean Race (formerly the Whitbread Round the World Race) is a yacht race around the world, held every four years. It's named after its sponsor, Volvo. Though the route is changed to accommodate various ports of call, the race typically departs England in September.
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The Global Challenge (not to be confused with The Global Challenge Award) is a round the world yacht race run by Challenge Business, the company started by Sir Chay Blyth in 1989.
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The 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, a company that would run the race. The first race set off a year later on 16 October 1996.
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single-handed sailing is sailing with only one crewmember (ie. only one person on board the vessel). The term is usually used with reference to ocean and long-distance sailing, and particularly competitive sailing.
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Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres (41.1 million square miles), it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface.
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The Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race, or STAR, is an east-to-west yacht race across the North Atlantic. When inaugurated in 1960, it was the first single-handed ocean yacht race; it is run from Plymouth to the USA, and is held every four years.
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Sunday Times Golden Globe Race was a non-stop, single-handed, round-the-world yacht race, held in 1968–1969, the first round-the-world yacht race. The race was controversial due to the failure by most competitors to finish the race and because of the suicide of one
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