SAILING SPORT

SAILING YACHT

Messing around in boats was the joy for many people, especially men.

The serious side is the competitive sailing which is of bitter rivalries. There are well kept secrets strongly debated rules. It is unbelievable if you think that there is so much water and yet there is skulduggery. Maybe it comes from centuries ago when everybody tried to rule the waves.

The International Yacht Racing Union set out hard-to-live-by or better sail-by rules. One thing is to be greatly acknowledged that the competitors own up when they break the rules. They also launch a protest when they saw another boat broke the rules. Therefore, a referee is seldom needed.

The racecourse is marked by buoys. The boats follow the buoys on the side as layed out. If they cause a collision they have to retire.

The sailors prove themselves in boat club meeting. Famous is the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes and the New York Yacht Club. There are hundreds of smaller clubs all along the coast, on lakes and rivers which organize races for various types of boats. Dinghies and yachts are designed for racing and not for luxuries living on board. Cruisers have speed and comfortable living on board.

================================================
PLEASE BE SO KIND AND CLICK ON ADVERTS. THANK YOU
=================================================

Racing boats are classed according to their size and sail area. The ONE-DESIGN races are for boats of the same class and won by the fastest time. The HANDICAP race is for various boats to enter the competition but they have to compete all by the same rules. The INTERNATIONAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEM (IMS) to give slower boats extra time. The boats owners usual complain that their boat was not treated fairly.

Team racing is right the opposite of what the name suggests. The team has mostly three boats and the points are added up from the final position. Skippers slow the other boats down to enable their team-mates get a better position. To do this they have to sail between the competitor's boat and the wind. Another method is to stay on leeward and bend the wind with their own sail. This will get the wind onto the wrong side of the other competitor's sail. It is definitely not a race between friends.

YACHT RACE IN 1872

YACHT RACE IN BAD WEATHER

The more famous the sailing events are; the more dangerous they are. These are the races for sea-going yachts. The most important knowledge is navigation and the weather. These races require a very fit crew and when the weather turns nasty they have to have a very strong stomach.

The Admiral's cup is held every second year. National teams enter and race off England southern coast. The Fastnet Race is on top of the list. It is a 975 km sailed from Cowes to Plymouth and round Ireland's Fastnet Rock.

YACHT RACE 
SYDNEY HARBOUR

Australian teams can enter the Southern Cross. It is a race of 800km from Sydney to Hobart. The start is at Sydney's harbour on Boxing Day, across the Bass Strait to Tasmania. At the end, along the Derwent River, an unexpected wind can push-up a boat which was behind the others.

THE WORLD YACHT RACE

The many transatlantic races are for fully crewed boats or single-handed ones and them all trying to break the record on crossing a dangerous ocean. The four-yearly Whitbread Round the World Race is the top challenge for a fully-crewed boat. A 60,000km route round the Capes and continents challenges the toughest sailor. Yachts can loose their mast in terrible weather and it happens more often than not, that a crew member is swept overboard.

In the Olympic they are classed into various races. They will be classified by size, shape, length, sail area and the members of the crew. Some races one crew member is allowed to a wire and harness which is called trapeze. This gives the crew member a chance to lean out of the boat to keep it on an even keel. The Europe, Finn, 470 and Laser classes are for dinghies. The Star and Soling classes are for yachts. The Tornado is for catamarans. The Minstral is for sailboats (windsurfers).

The course is triangular and the boats zigzagging across. A billowing front sail (spinnaker) is used in some races to increase the speed. A low point scoring system is used and the winner scoring zero.

Before the Olympic an Olympic Class regatta is held. The Europe regattas are a part of the Eurolympic.

.At the beginning of the competition there was a bit of British snobbery. In 1851, a schooner 'America' arrived in Cowes. The boat's bow was sharp, the stem was broad and insult upon insult, she was owned by businessmen. The reporters were shocked. The general opinion was that she looks like a pirate ship. The yacht club banning her from all the races. Eventually, she was allowed in Britain's finest race. The race around the Isle of Wight for the Hundred Guinea Cup. The US will have it that the outsider won. The owners took the trophy back to New York. There they changed its name and called it the American Cup. So there was a bit of piracy.

The New York Yacht Club kept the cup over 25 times. They were so sure that they mounted it on a pedestal. In 1983 Alan Bond won it with his Australia II. On the keel was a winged bulb fitted. They kept it wrapped up in polythene when she was on land. They painted it blue to prevent it to be detected.

In 1987 Dennis Connor won back the cup. After that the real battle started. Michael Fay challenged Connor off San Diego. It turned out that Fay's boat was twice as long. The usual size of a yacht was 12m. How could it happen that anybody could have anything bigger than an American?

US designers built the Stars and Stripes which were a twin hulled boat and they won.   The New Zealand took them to court and had them disqualified.  The Americans went to court and won and were reinstated.

In 1995 the New Zealander beat the American Connor's Young American with their Black Magic by five races.

PREPARATION FOR THE SCHOONER WORLD RACE CHAMPIONSHIP