Rules, Rules, Rules

By Andrew Cox

We are going to run a series of articles by Brett Beyer over the coming months, covering starting, top mark, bottom mark and port / starboard.

This is part of an effort to increase understanding of the rules by our sailors. But not just the rules — we are focused on understanding how to apply the rules sensibly in practice.

Importantly, there are many situations where the RIGHT answer is NOT to be aggressive in enforcing your rights. This is counter-intuitive to most sailors.

As Brett says, “The smart way to approach any rule is to do what is right for you. Giving a boatlength away at times could be the smartest long term approach. You usually can’t win a race as a result of an individual incident, but you can certainly lose one!”

This season, we are very focused on improving the quality of our racing. Please know the rules, know how to be sensible in applying them, and DO YOUR TURN(S) if you infringe.