Whether a boat is raced under a one-design rule, a box rule, a rating rule or an open rule, ultimately competitors sharing the start line want the comfort of knowing that, their own competencies or preparation aside, they’ve got a fair chance against the other boats. That is to say, all sails, rigs and spars, and hulls align with what the race says they should be under the rules.

Fortunately the rules provide three systems to prevent problems and address subsequent concerns about measurement compliance.

1. The class or rating rule may require measurement by appointed officials and have a controlled certification process. This is a preventative system and varies between class and rating rules.
2. Protest another boat under RRS 60.1. Now, this can be technically and procedurally complex and really is a last resort to address concerns because, a) if the protest is invalid the matter just gets dismissed and that's the end of that, or b) it might resolve the matter, but it risks creating long lasting animosity and conflict within what is a pretty tight knit community.
3. The organising authority appoints a technical committee under RRS 92 to conduct equipment inspection and event measurement. This is by far superior as it takes technically complex matters and procedures out of the hands of people who just want to race, and puts them into the hands of people who are independent, have powers under the rules, and have appropriate expertise.

At what might be argued is the highest level of the sport, the America’s Cup, boats are weighed every day in the match and finals. The rules require boats’ weight to fit within a certain range, but interestingly all are close to maximum. The measurers use load cells to pick the boat up from three points. This is not just because of the practicalities and crane logistics, but because the rule has limitations on where the boat's longitudinal centre of gravity is, and this enables the measurers to check that data as well. The longitudinal centre of gravity matters because teams want weight to be forward. This is quite an extreme example of checking, but for such a high profile and heavily invested part of the sport, its worth it.

The Etchells class has its own checks. A big focus area is the fairing of boats’ keels and hull undersides after they have left the factory. The reason a competitor might do this is to pursue keel efficiency which may reduce drag or increase lift. The class has measurers who check for this at major events. They also check for extra fairing and paint which can change the shape the other way. Irrespective of whether this about performance gains, it doesn't fit the rules.

Etchells are also weighed during measurement and typically, weather permitting, at major events. Why? Whether a boat is heavier or lighter may increase its waterline length and hull speed, or reduce drag, respectively. The class rule has a permitted weight range, and care is taken to make checks.

The Moth class is interesting. There are no boat weight limitations in the rule. What is focused on though, are the overall length of the boat including the stem and rudder fittings, and overall beam. At a recent event the technical committee required an entrant to grind back the wings on their boat to comply with the beam dimensions of the rule. This is the sort of check that a ‘normal competitor’ may not have the equipment to perform at the required accuracy. If left with the competitors to 'self police', the problem would never even be found, let alone addressed.

The iQFOiL has its own equipment checks and the measurers have a multimeter amongst their tools because carbon conducts electricity. The reason behind this is that when competitors maintain their foils or try to fair them for performance reasons, the multimeter can pick up whether the sanding of paint layers (which is permitted) has reached the internal carbon layers (which is not permitted).

At the 2024 Optimist Australian Championship the organising authority used a technical committee to check boats before racing started. The checks picked up around a dozen sails that didn’t measure. Some safety concerns were picked up by the technical committee too. These were around securing centreboards and tow ropes.

What is noticeable above is that its quite normal at all levels of sailing, from Optimists and Sabots to the Olympics and 'The Cup', to check competitors' equipment and act on it when it doesn't comply with the given rule.

Where sailing needs to evolve and improve in Australia is probably around major keelboat regattas racing under IRC or ORCi. Owners of boats invest an incredible amount of time and money in setting up a campaign and competing, and they really deserve confidence at the start line that everyone is compliant to the same extent. "There's no point of racing if someone is getting away with it" we recently heard.

Update! Since originally publishing this article, RORC have issued this news announcing that "...published valid boat data is easily accessible through the IRC Rating website, enabling sailors to review the rated information for their competitors, and allowing race organisers and equipment inspectors to benefit from more efficient access to boat data."

A webinar about technical committees can be viewed here.
For information about technical committees protesting, click here.
More about the Racing Rules of Sailing is here.

By Glen Stanaway