Documentation for championships

The following documents are intended as a rough guide or starting point for anyone who needs to draw up the documentation for National or Area Championships. They are taken from the 2001 National Championships at Medway Yacht Club and will need to be modified for local conditions.

Sample Notice of Race and Entry Form (MS-Word Format)

Sample Sailing Instructions (MS -Word Format)


Championship Guidelines

Version 1.1

These guidelines supplement the provisions of the Class Rules. As they can be easily modified with a minimum of bureaucratic hassle, they are a particularly useful way to ensure the best features of our championships are carried forward and any problems eliminated.


Venue

The venue should ideally be on waters open enough to set good windward legs in all wind directions. The tides should be predictable and offer no unreasonable advantage to local boats. There should be an active local fleet of boats, who ideally belong to the hosting club. Berthing and launching should be available locally at reasonable price. Ideally, all the competing boats, (including the local ones) should be berthed or moored in the same area, to enhance the atmosphere and social dimension of the event. The venue should be decided at the AGM two years in advance of the event to allow sufficient time for both the booking of the ideal dates with the hosting club and to allow the best chance of raising sponsorship. (Companies’ budgets are set in the preceding financial year). The venue will be rotated between clubs on the south coast of England, Scotland, the east coast of England, the north of England. Other areas (Ireland, SW England, etc) can be added if fleets develop sufficiently. The championship should be independent of other regattas and events to ensure the race committee is solely focused on running our races .


Timing and length

The championship should be run over 5 days from Monday to Friday. A long weekend event is not acceptable. The date for the championships is to be determined by the organisers with due regard to the following:

  • the dates of other events that would complement the Championships. (or compete, such as Cowes)
  • the need to avoid trailing boats (and sailing) on a bank holiday.

Makeup of races

The Championships should consist of 8 races (each a minimum of 90 mins).

  • Monday: 2 x Windward / Leewards
  • Tuesday: 2 x Olympic Triangles
  • Wednesday: Six hour Distance Race
  • Thursday: 2 x Windward / Leewards
  • Friday: Medium Distance Race (3.5 hrs).

The Distance Race should take advantage of the full sailing area available at the venue. A race around some geographical feature may be appropriate such as the Islands race at Ullswater, or around Cumbrae Island and back.

The Medium Distance race should have a different focus: it should use fixed buoys to provide the normal variety of quality beats, runs and reaches (as would be provided by a laid course) but in a different and interesting way. This is easily possible in an area such as the Solent with it's myriad of buoys. If the sailing area does not allow for such a race, (ie, there is a danger of it becoming a series of processional reaches) then another Windward / Leeward should be set instead.

There will be 1 discard when 5 races have been sailed and a second after 7 races.


Sails

Up to two sets of measured and checked sails will be approved. They must bear the boat's own sail number.


Crew numbers

Crew is limited to either 3 or 4. After the first race the boat must sail with the same number of crew for the rest of the series, although they do not need to be the same individuals.


Scrutineering

Boats will be scrutineered before and during the event to ensure the cruiser/racer nature of the boats is maintained and to eliminate any discrepancies that could give a speed advantage. The scrutineering will be friendly and consultative and a list of the likely measurement areas should be published beforehand. Corrector weights and a sail measurer should be available at the venue (at a cost) to ensure boats are able to correct any problems and thereby continue to race.


Prizes

As a principle, any prizes awarded in addition to the perpetual trophies should be spread as wide as possible throughout the competitors. Suitable methods might include: rewarding the top 6 places each day and the top 10 overall, or limiting the number of times a single boat can receive a prize (ie, when any boat finishes for a third time in the top 6, the prizes skip them and instead go to the next highest placed finisher), or raffling any material prizes between all the competitors. Where possible each boat should receive a keep-sake memento of the week.


Socials

The championships are principally a holiday for most if not all of the competitors and the social provision should reflect this! When organising the program, the priority for the final night function must be to make it as inclusive as possible, to ensure all the competitors and crews are present.