World Sailing

Serving as the creators and managers of sailing events, race organizers are charged with overseeing the registration process and constructing the Notice of Race (NOR) per the Racing Rules of Sailing. This Notice includes valuable information for all competitors including registration guidelines, safety training requirements, applicable class rules, eligibility requirements, governing rules, a description of the course, rating/handicap certification, and scoring. In all of these areas, the organizers endeavor to serve the interests of their entrants and promote participation. Race Organizers are the primary resource for local sailors.

Developed out of a need to isolate the skill of the crew from the performance of the boat, rating and handicap rules endeavor to assign allowances to correct fleet finishing times. To ensure these allowances are assessed fairly, the rating rule developer prescribes a set of rules beyond the Racing Rules of Sailing that specifies the configurations to which these allowances apply. Generally, ratings are either derived directly from empirical analysis of race data and observed performance or generated by sophisticated software packages. Deciding which rule is right for their fleet is a chief consideration of race organizers.

With safety a paramount concern in offshore racing, a number of different authorities have brought recommendations to the sport. The US Sailing Safety at Sea Committee developed Safety at Sea training programs and Safety Equipment Requirements (SER) to consolidate these opinions. Ultimately, it is up to race organizers to stipulate which guidelines to follow and training standards to mandate.

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Offshore - United States Sailing Association