If you’re a competent sailor and can make your boat go in any given direction, perhaps your ready to race.

Basics

Racing entails three or more boats travelling around the same buoys (also known as marks, cans and ‘floating things’) at the same time to see who’s fastest.

Handicaps

“But my boats slower than yours!” Not to worry, each type of boat has a handicap value. If a sailor were to sail two classes of boat over the same course in the same conditions, the handicap applied to the boats should produce two (roughly) equal corrected times.

Fleets

Sometimes, there are enough boats of one type sailing, that each type can be considered it’s own race. In this case, no handicap need be applied. In reality, this only occurs in open events.

Starting

All the boats wait for the starting signal. At SVSC, we use the 5, 4, 1, Go system. These refer to the time in minutes before the start, when sound signals and flags are used to inform the sailors.

  • 5 Minutes – one or more class flags are raised (usually just the handicap class flag), one sound signal is made.
  • 4 Minutes – preparatory flag is raised, one sound signal is made.
  • 1 Minute – the preparatory flag is lowered, one sound signal is made.
  • Start – the class flag(s) are lowered, one sound signal is made.

As the race starts, all boats should be behind the start line. Any boats in-front of the line may be called back by one or two sound signals:

  • One sound signal – The duty team can tell who was over (one or more boats) and will penalize them, unless the boats return behind the line to restart.
  • Two sound signals – The duty team could not identify all boats over the line, so the race must be restarted.

Middling

Once the start is out of the way, each boat will sail as fast as it can to reach the first mark on the course. Once thats over with, it’s onto the next. When all marks have been rounded, you’ll usually find yourself passing through the start line to do it again. This is called a lap. As you complete a lap, the race officers will make note of the time for later calculations.

A race at SVSC will usually last for around 60 minutes for the leading boat, which usually means four or five laps. A course is defined by a list of marks and instructions on which side to leave them. When a mark is reached, it must be passed in a specific direction (think clockwise/anticlockwise if viewed from above).

  • Starboard – also known as Right. When a mark is to be left to starboard, the boat should pass clockwise around the mark.
  • Port – also known as Left. When a mark is to be left to port, the boat should pass anti-clockwise around the mark.

The marks at SVSC are denoted by numbers, letters and colours (not as complicated as it sounds). Below is a map of the reservoir and the marks placed on it.

Finishing

Okay, you’ve sailed for an hour, and got dizzy going round the course several times.

At some point a boat passing the last mark in the course will notice two sound signals and a flag flown from the duty box. This means that the next time she (and all boats following) passes through the start (now finish) line, its game over. The duty team will make a sound signal and record the overall time for the boat. At this point, it’s time for a cup of tea.