Improve Racing at the EYC – Learn the Racing Rules

If you race, in 2012 please make racing at the EYC better for everyone by making a conscious effort always to follow the racing rules.  When some sailors don’t know the rules, or worse, choose to ignore the rules, racing at the EYC is made less fun for all of us.

If you compete, please learn the fundamental right of way rules and perform penalty turns when you know you fouled another boat.  If you learn after the race that you were in the wrong in a right-of-way incident, tell the race committee that you are withdrawing from the race.

To help motivate other competitors to obey the rules, if you have been fouled, please protest the boat which fouled you.  Protesting another boat which has fouled you is not an unfriendly act; it’s just a necessary part of the game in a sport which depends on competitors, not referees, to enforce the rules.

Knowing the rules is a big advantage for racers, because the rules are the basis for all boat-on-boat tactics.  You can’t be a good sailing tactician without a good understanding of the rules.

Parents, please help your junior sailors understand the importance of following the racing rules.  A book on the racing rules makes a great gift for your junior sailor!  Winter is always a good time to study the rules.

Resources for learning about the racing rules include Dave Perry’s book Understanding the Racing Rules of Sailing 2009-2012, and U.S. Sailing’s nine-minute video entitled “Animated Handy Guide to the Racing Rules of Sailing” which can be viewed for free at  http://raceadmin.ussailing.org/Rules/Animated_Handy_Guide.htm.

If you are interested in serving as a judge to hear protest hearings arising out of the EYC’s series races and regattas, please contact EYC Race and Regattas Committee chairman Bjorn Hooper [email protected]