Cruiser Racing 

Many cruiser sailors do not race – until a competitor comes along...

You are quite happily sailing along, without a care in the world, when you notice a similar yacht heading in the same direction. At first you just sit up a little and admire its lines but then you realise it is catching up.

The mainsheet is tweaked and you sit down on the windward side and try to forget about it. But within ten minutes, the genoa cars are being freed with WD40 and the kids are sitting on the windward rail. All whilst you nonchalantly wave at the other boat and try to look like as though you’re not racing.

Many cruiser sailors do not race – until a competitor comes along...

If you’ve ever wondered about how you go about poking your bow over a start line, read on. In this new series of articles we hope to give an overview of what you need to consider and then look at each point in more detail over the coming months.

Accessible cruiser racing

Cruiser racing is mostly organised by sailing clubs and, over recent years many have gone to great lengths to make racing more accessible to cruising sailors. Spinnakers send a shudder through many cruising sailors and therefore one of the most progressive classes at the moment is the white sail fleet, which does away with them completely. Lack of crew is no longer a problem as many clubs run a series of ‘two-handed’ races where the skipper and one crew pit themselves against similarly crewed boats.

Courses

There are a variety of organised races and it is wise to go for a type of course that you will enjoy – whether that is a race out to the Eddystone Light and back or a blast around the harbour for an hour in the evening.

Races may be individual one off events, such as the ‘Round the Island Race’ sailing around the Isle of Wight with 2,000 other competitors, local charity races or a series of local or offshore courses where points are scored on each race.

Insurance

It is worth checking your insurance policy to ensure you are covered. Some insurers automatically cover sailing yachts for racing whilst others will charge a premium, often derived from the replacement value of the mast, spars, rigging and sails.

Equipment

The sailing club or race organiser will publish a NOR (Notice of Race) and Sailing Instructions detailing what equipment and regulations apply to that race.

The ISAF (International Sailing Federation) have an equipment and requirement list called the Offshore Special Regulations (OSR).

The OSR denote area categories and prescribe equipment relevant to the type of race that is being undertaken whether that is in sheltered water or non-stop circumnavigations.

Racing Rules

The Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) are loosely based on the COLREGS but give more precise rulings for situations where many boats are in close proximity to each other. They cover specific racing problems, such as when vessels shall keep clear or have right of way whilst rounding a mark or tacking and gybing.

The RRS also detail the flags and pennants that are flown and how the race is conducted. Nobody expects you to know the RRS inside out when you first start, however it’s worth knowing the basics. Handy Guide to the Racing Rules as a book and an App are worth having.

Fair racing

Unless all boats sail as a one design fleet, boats of varying size and shape need a system to ensure that the race tests good sailing and not just who has a faster boat. A boat entering a race will require a corrective formula which is applied to gain a final result. The formulas are usually based on one of two methods:

• Boat design data is compiled and a formula used to predict performance – often called ‘rating’
• The performance of the boat is observed and a formula applied – often called ‘handicapping’ The most common handicaps used at present are the Portsmouth Yardstick (PY) and the International Rating Certificates (IRC). However there are plenty of system out there and many clubs have their own in-house club handicap system.

Photos and words by Simon Jinks, RYA Instructor at SeaRegs Training www.searegs.co.uk