Mullingar Sailing Club

The Racing Rules of Sailing (often abbreviated to RRS) govern the conduct of yacht racing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, model boat racing, dinghy racing and virtually any other form of racing around a course with more than one vessel while powered by the wind. A new revision is published every four years (after the Olympic Games) by the International Sailing Federation, the sport's world governing body. The current edition (2009–2012) came into effect on 1 January 2009.

The Racing rules of Sailing 2009-2012

THE RACING RULES OF SAILING FOR 2009 - 2012 - AMENDMENTS
Wednesday 25 November 2009

The International Sailing Federation announced today that, as a result of actions taken by the ISAF Racing Rules Committee and the ISAF Council during the ISAF Annual Conference, several changes in The Racing Rules of Sailing for 2009-2012 will take effect on 1 January 2010.

Rule 18.2(c) will be changed to prohibit a newly discovered and potentially dangerous tactic that was an unintended consequence of the current wording of this rule. The revised rule will no longer permit a boat to tack just before she reaches a mark and, as a result of her tack, become entitled to mark-room from boats that had been clear ahead of her when they reached the zone.

The definition Obstruction will be changed so that a boat racing will no longer be an obstruction to other boats that are required to give her room or mark-room. This change will simplify the analysis of some situations near a mark in which both rules 18 and 19 apply, and it will not otherwise change the 'game'.

Additions will be made to the definition "Party" to correct unintended omissions. The revised definition will mean that, whenever redress is requested for a boat by the race committee or considered for a boat by the protest committee, that boat will be a party to the resulting hearing. Also, a race committee that requests redress for a boat will also become a party when its request is heard.

Click here to show the changes made in detail.

Racing Rules of Sailing From Wikipedia