T15 Sailing Instructions 2011
Sailing Instructions (SIs) are an important document which tell you how the event & will be run and the rules which apply. All participants, coaches & parents should read and understand the SIs before participating in (or attending) an event.
If you do not understand any of the rules, speak with your T15 coach ahead of the event or the T15 Competition Organiser during the event briefing.
For Events 1-4, all Team15 Zones
- Rules
- Safety
- Identifying Competitors
- Rights to Use Names & Likenesses
- Schedule of Racing
- Scoring
- Flags & Signals
- Protests & Penalties
- Courses
The T15 inter-club racing will take place under the Racing Rules of Sailing, these Sailing Instructions, T15 Notice of Race, any local regulations or by changes notified by the T15 Competition Organiser at the briefing. In case of discrepency and unless specified at the briefings, the Notice of Race and these Sailing Instructions shall take precedence.
2.1 General
i. Competitors are entirely responsible for their own safety and that of their equipment, whether ashore or afloat. Nothing - whether in the Notice of Race, in these Sailing Instructions or anywhere else - reduces this responsibility. Parents or guardians of minors have an additional responsibility for their children.
ii. It is solely for each competitor to decide whether he or she is fit to sail in the conditions that prevail or are forecast. The provision of patrol boats or other boats does not relieve the competitor of his or her responsibilities.
iii. Each competitor is required to hold adequate insurance, in particular against third-party claims to the sum of at least £2,000,000; this is a free benefit of RYA membership (which starts at just £5.00) but only when windsurfing is specified as an interest. It is a condition of entry that all competitors are RYA personal members; you should ideally join online before the event, but you can join on the day if necessary.
iv. Nothing done or not done by the organisers can reduce the responsibility of the competitor, nor will it make the organisers responsible for any loss, damage, death or personal injury, however it may have occurred, as a result of the competitor taking part in an event. “The organisers” encompasses everyone helping to run a race or event and includes the organising authority, the race officer, the race committee, crews of official boats and the beachmaster.
2.2 Personal Buoyancy
All competitors are required to wear adequate personal buoyancy at all times whilst afloat.
3.1 Team Race Vests
i. All teams will wear their bespoke sponsored T15 race vests (maximum 15).
ii. If a team has more than 15 sailors, additional sailors will wear generic black T15 race vests. Please liaise with the Race Officer immediately following the briefing if you do not have one.
iii. Teams without bespoke sponsored T15 race vests will wear generic black T15 race vests. Please liaise with the Race Officer immediately following the briefing to receive these.
3.2 RYA Zone Windsurfing Squad Sailors
i. Members of the RYA Zone Windsurfing Squads will identify themselves afloat by tying securely a red streamer to their top batten; these should be obtained from registration.
ii. RYA Zone Windsurfing Squad Sailors may be disqualified if no red streamer is present whilst sailing (by T15 CO only; this sailing instruction cannot be used by sailors to protest other sailors).
Competitors automatically grant to the organizing authority without payment the right in perpetuity to make, use and show any motion pictures, still pictures and live, taped or filmed television of or relating to the event.
The racing schedule will be explained at the morning briefing with any alterations to be outlined at subsequent briefings. There will be a maximum of 9 races; no racing will start after 4pm.
6.1 Points System
The low points scoring system shall be used as follows:
1st place = 1 point
2nd place = 2 points
3rd place = 3 points
Add 1 point for each place thereafter
6.2 Discards
A board's score will be calculated excluding worst results as follows:
3 races = 1 discard
7 races = 2 discards
9 races = 3 discards
6.3 Team Scoring
i. The team with the lowest score will win.
ii. To calculate each team's score add together the positions of the six best ranking individuals (these can be from one class or a number of classes).
iii. If a club enters a team with less than six competitors, the missing scores will be created by taking the number of attendees in the largest fleet and adding 1. This should be calculated for each individual missing to give a team score of six results to count.
6.4 Series Scoring
i. The team with the lowest score will win; this is based on place not points.
ii. All four events to count; no discard is given. If a team misses one or more events, their score will be created by taking the number of teams in attendance for that event and adding 1.
6.5 Ties
i. This rule is based on the ISAF Racing Rules of Sailing (Rule A8.1 / A8.2) and is relevant to a tie between two sailors in the same fleet, or a tie between two clubs at a T15 event or the T15 series.
ii. If there is a series-score tie between two or more boards/teams, each board’s/team’s race scores shall be listed in order of best to worst, and at the first point(s) where there is a difference the tie shall be broken in favour of the board(s)/team(s) with the best score(s). No excluded scores shall be used.
iii. If a tie remains between two or more boards/teams, they shall be ranked in order of their scores in the last race. Any remaining ties shall be broken by using the tied boards’/teams’ scores in the next-to-last race and so on until all ties are broken. These scores shall be used even if some of them are excluded scores.
All flags and signals to be used will be explained at the briefings but the usual method of countdown will be the 'traffic light system' as follows:
Class flag up
1 sound signal |
3 minutes to go |
Red flag up
Class flag down
1 sound signal |
2 minutes to go |
Yellow flag up
Red flag down
1 sound signal |
1 minute to go |
Green flag up
Yellow flag down
1 sound signal |
GO! |
These processes are outlined below and will be explained at briefing.
8.1 Rule infringement & protests
i. If a sailor has infringed a rule of part 2 of the Racing Rules of Sailing, they may avoid the risk of a points penalty by either completing a 360 degree turn or by dropping the rig in the water and uphauling (without interfering with another competitor) or another manoeuvre or action to be described at the briefing.
ii. If the sailor does not follow the above action, they can be protested and taken to arbitration.
8.2 Arbitration
i. Protests will be heard as soon as possible after the race concerned.
ii. They will be heard by the T15 Competition Organiser (T15 CO) or an individual nominated by the T15 CO.
8.3 Penalties
i. To ensure the correct spirit of competition is upheld, there will be no penalty if the T15 CO (or nominated individual) concludes, from the arbitration, that the incident was minor and unavoidable.
ii. If a sailor is found to have infringed a rule they will have 3 points added to their score in that race.
8.4 Fair Sportsmanship
An exception to the above rules is:
i. The T15 CO can protest the individual sailors or teams for unfair sportsmanship; penalties may be incurred.
ii. The document outlining unfair sportsmanship can be found on the Team15 website/zone events.
9.0 COURSES
All courses to be used will be explained at the briefing. Most likely the course set will start off with a very easy reaching course and progress to courses involving sailing to windward. The T15 CO will endeavour to set courses appropriate to the ability level of the competitors following a briefing with team coaches.