Most sailors know which boat they are sailing, whether it is a Solo, Scorpion or Squib. Most race officials sign up to officiate one design racing. Most sailors might have heard of class rules and some may even have read them. Some race officials may have read the class rules for the class they are officiating.
Some classes require the boat to have a VALID measurement certificate. Look at the class rules, usually around A.13 and B.1, to see if the boat needs a certificate to race. The certificate is a document that says the hull of the boat was measured and weighed when it was new, and it met the requirements of the class measurement rules.
It has been said that it doesn’t matter if a boat is not within class rules if it is only club raced. So, would it be alright to turn up with a sail that’s 10% bigger than it should be or a boat 10 kilos lighter than it should be? Let’s put it this way. If someone who clearly does not have mark room barges in and gets ahead of you, knowingly breaks a rule, and then continues sailing. Would you be happy? Probably not, so why should boats sail outside of class rules and break these?
Here are some simple checks to do at all levels of racing:
- Does the boat have a valid certificate if it needs one?
- Does the sail have a measurer sticker? (Either RYA, World Sailing or class measurer)
- Do the corrector weights in the boat, match the corrector weights on the certificate?
If a breach of class rules occurs at club level, you may look to educate the fleet of boats by asking them to read their class rules and maybe do a little seminar.
If a breach occurs at a national event, then you may need to refer to a protest committee if racing has already started.
Click here to update your certificate
If you require any assistance, please get in contact with us at technical@rya.org.uk