Yacht racing

Yacht racing is the sport of competitive sailing. There isVendée Globe.
a broad variety of kinds of races and sailboats usedSingle-handed racing has seen a great boom in
for racing. Much racing is done around buoys or similarpopularity in recent years.
marks in protected waters, while some longer offshoreThere is some controversy about the legality of sailing
races cross open water. All kinds of boats are usedsingle-handed over long distances, as the navigation
for racing, including small dinghies, catamarans, boatsrules require "that every vessel shall at all times
designed primarily for cruising, and purpose-builtmaintain a proper lookout..."; single-handed sailors can
raceboats.only keep a sporadic lookout, due to the need to sleep,
Types of racestend to navigation, etc.
Harbour or buoy racingOther races
Harbour or buoy races are conducted in protectedCertain races do not fit in the above categories. One
waters, and are quite short, usually taking anywheresuch is the Three peaks yacht race in the UK which is
from a few minutes to a few hours. All sorts of sailinga team competition involving sailing, cycling and running.
craft are used for these races, including keelboats ofClasses and ratings
all sizes, as well as dinghies, catamarans, skiffs,Many design factors have a large impact on the
sailboards, and other small craft. A competition, orspeed at which a boat can complete a course,
regatta, usually consists of multiple individual races,including the size of a boat's sails, its length, and the
where the boat that performs best in each race is theweight and shape of its hull. Because of these
overall winner. The most famous such event is thedifferences, it can be difficult to compare the skills of
America's Cup, but harbour races are commonthe sailors in a race if they are sailing very different
anywhere there is a community of sailors.boats. For most forms of yacht racing, one of two
This kind of race is most commonly run over one orsolutions to this problem are used; either all boats are
more laps of a triangular course marked by a numberrequired to be identical (a one-design class), or a
of buoys. The course starts from an imaginary linehandicapping system is used. A third approach is the
drawn from a 'committee boat' to the designateduse of "open" classes.
'starting' buoy or 'pin'. A number of warning signals areIn one-design racing all boats must conform to the
given telling the crews exactly how long until the racesame standard, the class rules. In this way the boats
starts. The aim of each crew is to cross the start lineare as identical as they can be manufactured, thus
at full speed exactly as the race starts. A courseemphasizing the skill of the skipper and crew.
generally involves tacking upwind to a 'windward'Examples of popular classes include Etchells, Snipe,
marker or buoy. Then bearing away onto a downwindStar, Soling, Thistle, Lightning, Laser, and J/24. Each
leg to a second jibe marker. Next another jibe on aclass has a detailed set of specifications that must be
second downwind leg to the last mark which is calledmet for the boat to be considered a member of that
the 'downwind mark' (or 'leeward mark'). At this markclass. At important regattas the boats are measured
the boats turn into wind once again to tack to the finishprior to the event to ensure that they do conform.
line.When all the yachts in a race are not members of the
Offshore racingsame class, then a handicap is used to adjust the
Offshore yacht races are held over long distancestimes of boats. The handicap attempts to specify a
and in open water; such races usually last for at least"normal" speed for each boat, usually based either on
a number of days. The longest offshore races involvemeasurements taken of the boat, or on the past
a circumnavigation of the world.record of that kind of boat. Each boat is timed over
Some of the most famous offshore races are thethe specified course. After it has finished, the handicap
Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, the Transpacific Yachtis added to each boat's finishing time. The results are
Race, the Fastnet race, the Bermuda Race, and thebased on this sum. Popular handicapping systems in
West Marine Pacific Cup. Several fully-crewed2006 include IRC (Sailing), ORR and PHRF. Earlier
round-the-world races are held, including the Volvopopular rating systems include IOR and IMS.
Ocean Race (formerly called the Whitbread RoundAn open class is based on a box rule, which specifies
the World Race), the Global Challenge and the Clippera maximum overall size for boats in the class, as well
Round the World Race.as features such as stability. Competitors in these
Single-handed ocean yacht racing begain with the raceclasses are then free to enter their own boat designs,
across the Atlantic Ocean by William Albert Andrewsas long as they do not exceed the box rule. No
and Josiah W. Lawlor in 1891; however, the first regularhandicap is then applied. Since it is essentially based on
single-handed ocean race was the Single-Handedthe use of custom boats, such events are generally
Trans-Atlantic Race, first held in 1960. The firstlimited to high-budget racers. Popular examples of
round-the-world yacht race was the Sunday Timesopen classes are the Open 50 and 60 classes used in
Golden Globe Race of 1968-1969, which was also asingle-handed offshore events. However the Moth
single-handed race; this inspired the present-dayclass is an exception, with boats being no longer than
VELUX 5 Oceans Race (formerly the BOC Challenge11 feet.
/ Around Alone) and the