How it Works 

For all Olympic and Paralympic classes, except Women’s Match Racing , the sailors compete in fleet racing, where all boats in the same class race at the same time.

OLYMPIC CLASSES (excluding match racing)

Complete a series of 10 races (15 for 49ers). At the end of that series the top 10 boats go through to the medal race when points are worth double and the medals are decided.

Scoring:

For the opening series, the sailors accrue points depending on where they finish in a race (ie: 1st = 1 point, 2nd = 2 etc).

One race is required to constitute a regatta. Six races are required to be completed to constitute an opening series.

Once five or more opening series races have been completed, the sailors can discard their worst score from their series score (excluding the medal race).

At London 2012, six races are required for the series to go to a medal race. If six races are not completed, the winner will be the sailor with the lowest overall score from the completed races.

The medal race is a  shorter, non-discardable race which counts as double points (ie: 1st = 2 points, 2nd = 4 points etc). The final points from the medal race are added to each sailor's running score and the sailor with the lowest overall score will win the event.

The medal race is officiated by on-the-water umpires with sailors required to make any protests during the race. If two boats have the same overall score at the end of the medal race, the final overall placings will be determined by which boat finished furthest up the field in the medal race.

During the opening series, the 49ers are scheduled to race three times a day while all other classes are scheduled to race twice.

Racing is scheduled to start at 12pm each day. No race will start later than 6pm.

Women’s Match Racing:

This new discipline for London 2012 takes place in Elliott 6m boats. Match racing sees two identical boats racing against each other in a series of one-on-duels. As a result, match racing heavily focuses mainly on strategy and tactics.

STAGE 1: Opening round robin series – all 12 boats race against each other once. The first 8 teams qualify for the Quarter Finals.

STAGE 2: Quarter Finals – the 8 qualified teams sail a knock-out series. The pairings are determined by where a boat finished in the round robin (ie 1st v 8th, 2nd v 7th etc). 

The winner of all knockout rounds will be the first boat to score three points.

The quarter final winners qualify for the semi-finals, the losers go through to the 5-8 sail off.

STAGE 3: Sail-offs – the four teams sail a mini knock-out series to determine 5th to 8th place.

STAGE 4: Semi-finals – the four qualified teams sail a knock out series. The winners of each semi qualify for the gold medal match and the losers qualify for the bronze medal match.

STAGE 5: Medal matches (Final & Petit Final) – the winner of each pair will be the first team to score at least three points. The results will determine the medal positions plus 4th place.

PARALYMPIC CLASSES

Sailing first appeared as a Paralympic demonstration sport at the 1996 Atlanta Games before being included as a full Paralympic medal sport at Sydney 2000. The 2.4mR and Sonar were the two classes contested in Australia with 15 entries in the Sonar and 17 in the 2.4mR.

There are slight modifications in equipment in order to suit an athlete’s ability.The boats used as Paralympic classes have keels, mainly because this design provides greater stability. These keelboats have open cockpits to allow more room for the sailors.

Competition in Paralympic classes is run under the ISAF Racing Rules of Sailing and according to the IFDS Race Management and the IFDS Functional Classification System.

Competition in the single-person keelboat (2.4mR) requires minimum disability, in the three-person keelboat (Sonar) points based on the level of disability of the competitor for a total not to exceed 14 points. In the two-person keelboat (SKUD), one new crew member must be Very Severely Disabled or Severely Disabled and one crew member must be female.

The sailors compete in fleet racing, where all boats in the same class race at the same time. Each class completes a series of 11 races but with no double points medal race.

For the whole series, the sailors accrue points depending on where they finish in a race (ie: 1st = 1 point, 2nd = 2 etc). The boat with the lowest overall score at the end of the series will win the event.

One race is required to constitute a regatta. Once five or more races have been completed, the sailors can discard their worst score from their series scores – the score a boat discards often changes as the regatta progresses.

Two races per day are scheduled for each class from 1 to 5 September, with one race for each class on the final scheduled day (6 September).

Racing is scheduled to start at 11am each day. No race will start later than 6pm.