The RYA can issue offshore sail numbers for UK yachts

The RYA Technical Department issues offshore sail numbers, essential for all racing yachts and advisory for cruising yachts venturing to sea.

These sail numbers are an important way of uniquely identifying a yacht for search and rescue purposes, and are a requirement of the Racing Rules of Sailing, Rule 77 - Identification on Sails. The RYA recommend that all yachts have a unique sail number.

If the owner sells the boat on, except in exceptional circumstances, the sail number remains with the boat and details of the new owner should be passed on to the RYA Technical Department with the appropriate registration fee. Sail Numbers will be in the form of GBR four digit number with a suffix of Y, L, T or N e.g. GBR 4567T. Multihulls will be given a suffix of M. Allocation of single numbers is free of charge to RYA Personal Members and 26 to non members and companies. Application forms for Sail Number Allocations are available above or from the RYA Technical Department, and will be required to be completed before a number is issued.

Dinghy & Keelboat Sail Number Allocation/Building Fees:

The RYA issue sail numbers and collect the building fees (design royalties) for all the following classes:-
ALBACORE 70.50
DRAGON 50.00
EIGHTEEN 20.00
FIREFLY 125.73
GRADUATE 125.73
HORNET 202.10
MERLIN-ROCKET 20.00
SCORPION 152.75
SHEARWATER 152.75
SOLO 125.73
SONATA 317.25
SQUIB 240.88 
SWALLOW 65.00
SWORDFISH 65.00
UNICORN 152.75

For all RYA administered International Classes except the Optimist and Dragon the fee is 20.00. For the Optimist Class the fee is 20.00 unless the application is accompanied with a current RYA Membership number when the fee is 15.00. All prices are inclusive of VAT at 17.5%

Block of Sail Numbers

If a class or builder is interested in reserving a block of sail numbers, then please contact the RYA Technical Department. For example, the Hunter 707 Class have the GBR 7000N series, the 1720 Sportsboats have the GBR 1720L series. It is possible to reserve a batch of sail numbers and pay as and when the next boat is built. In addition special numbers either singular or in block, can be made available at special rate. Just ask. If you would like anymore information on sail numbers please contact us by email or on 023 8060 4204.