What many outside the sailing game don’t know: the sport of sailing is constantly evolving. Certainly the most tangible way to see that happen is in the boat designs and technology that take to the water to determine who is fastest and smartest. But more subtly, both to respond to those boat changes and to make the rules clearer and easier to understand, every four years, a new, evolved set of the Racing Rules of Sailing are issued—coinciding with each Olympic quadrennial. As of January 1, we’re all actually sailing under the 2017-20 RRS, whether we were aware of it or not!
Yes, this means having to learn some new elements in an already quite complex game. Evolution of these rules has been key to making our sport safe, fun, and fair. For example, isn’t it generally more fun to have more boats out racing? The 720 penalty (now the Two-Turn Penalty) wasn’t introduced until 1973—until then, generally, the penalty for haven broken a right-of-way rule was to retire promptly from the race, including if your mainsheet breezed up against the weather mark because you eased it just a hair too much.
For sailors a bit newer to the game, nostalgia may set in when they recall some terms from RRS gone by such as the “two boat-length circle,” “mast abeam,” and endless 10-minute starting sequences.
Each quadrennium, changes to the rules are suggested, evaluated, approved, and implemented in several areas: the formalities of how we play the game as well as the on-the-water, what happens when two (or more) boats meet.
There are a few interesting tweaks in the new rules. A new definition of “support person,” which identifies people associated with a given competitor, and is designed to ensure fair sailing among not only competitors but their supporters, has been established. This includes not only coaches, but also parents of competitors (so kids, make sure your parents follow the rules and stay out of the way).
Penalties for breaking fundamental rule 2 (Fair Sailing) have been expanded so that they include both DNE (a nonexcludable disqualification) as well as DSQ (a standard disqualification). Adding DSQ enables the penalty to be given a bit more freely.
A new starting scenario that was tested at many major regattas over the past few years has been formalized. The “U-flag” is now an option for a flag to be flown as the preparatory signal. It is, in essence, a less-severe black flag. While a black flag means that if you are identified as over early in a start of a race, you are disqualified from that race, even if it is abandoned after the start. Under U flag, while the penalty is the same, it is not applied if races are abandoned after the start—as when, for example, there is a major wind shift before the first mark, or if the wind dies. So if the race is abandoned after the start and then resailed, even if you were identified under the U flag, you get to play! The U flag—which features red and white squares—is a kinder, gentler black flag.
Things always get stickier—and more complex—with changes in Part 2, the section of the rules that deals with what happens when boats meet.
Rule 18 (actually four separate rules, with numerous sub-rules) is the section of the RRC that describes the rules related to mark room. A new sub-rule has been added to Rule 18.2 that helps to define how long an inside boat is entitled to mark room. It does so by clarifying what happens when an outside leeward boat wants to luff (and remember that the definition of “luff” isn’t sails a-flapping, head to wind; simply altering course toward the wind). Once the inside boat has been given room, the outside boat can luff… but only if the inside boat is able to respond without risk of hitting the mark. (And remember, as outside boat, oftentimes if you were to try this, you’d actually just put yourself in bad air.)
Rule 18.3—Tacking in the Zone—has an important change, which removes some confusion. This rule deals with what happens when a port tack boat sails up and tacks onto starboard close below a boat already on starboard tack (quick version: you can’t take them above close-hauled). It now only applies at a port rounding (mark to be left to port, as at most traditional weather marks).
These are only a very few of the changes that have been implemented in moving from the 2013-16 to 2017-20 RRS. As always, this is a great time of year to brush up on your knowledge of the rules, in preparation for the upcoming season. But reading through an entire rulebook without guidance can be pretty intimidating.
There are a few books available to help you through the process—the gold standard here in the United States is Dave Perry’s “Understanding the Racing Rules of Sailing through 2020.” Check event calendars for rules seminars in your area; most seminars this year will include discussion of important changes. And of course, keep talking about the rules with your fellow sailors.
--by Kim Couranz
