Every four years the Racing Rules of Sailing are updated following the Olympics. The new rules come into force on 1st January 2025.
To help the sailor, World Sailing labels important changes with marginal markings. And this time around there are quite a lot of marginal markings:
- A third of the Definitions are marked
- Nearly a third of the rules in Part 2 (When Boats Meet) are marked
- All of the rules in Part 5 (Protests, Redress, Hearings, Misconduct and Appeals) are marked.
That’s quite a lot of changes!
Bryan Willis, a leading authority on the rules of yacht and dinghy racing, has updated his practical guide – The Rules in Practice – to reflect the 2025-2028 version of World Sailing’s Racing Rules of Sailing.
This latest 11th edition, as always, puts the emphasis on the practical impact on the sailor, rather than a theoretical discussion of the rules themselves.
The book opens with an outline of the latest rule changes and their implication for sailors. Including . . .
- A change to the direction of finishing
- A rewritten definition of ‘Mark-room’ and the sequence of actions reuired
- A change to the call used to hail for ‘Room to Tack’
- An expanded Avoiding Contact rule
- Clarification of ‘sailing the course’ definition.
- Changes to the ‘Right-of-Way’ boat changing course at an obstruction’ rule
- Formalisation of the hailing ‘Room to tack@ and reply
- And clarification to the ‘N’ flag meaning when displayed by the Race Committee.
He then covers the fundamental rules that always apply to sailors along with a detailed look at the rules around luffing and keeping clear – which were an eye-opener to many sailors when they were first published in the last edition.
The rest of the book takes you around the racecourse, from start to finish, through the key situations that frequently occur showing, from the point of view of each boat involved turn, what you may, must or must not do.
Bryan Willis first published his guide to the rules of sailing – The Rules in Practice – in 1985 and regular updates have followed.
To complete your in-depth knowledge of the latest rules a full copy of the new rules is incorporated.
The Rules in Practice 2025-2028 : £17.99
Bryan Willis
Published by Fernhurst Books
Available bookshops, websites and direct from www.fernhurstbooks.com
