The 2024 Australian Yachting Championship will held under IRC and conducted as part of SailFest in early April 2024. The Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club and Australian Sailing will be introducing a practice not often seen in racing under rating systems in Australia. That is the use of a technical committee to perform equipment inspection and measurements under RRS 92. 

Both organisations want competitors to race and be comfortable that the outcome of the regatta was fair. Event inspections done in a systematic way by the technical committee will avoided the bar talk and tension that can sometimes be heard at a major regatta held under IRC.

The sorts of things that could be checked might include sails, spars and crew. Safety equipment will also be under the spotlight, not just to ensure everyone gets back home safely but to minimise the likelihood of equipment being removed from the boat to save weight.

Entrants will be notified by the organising authority regarding what is required of them. These might include certain checks at registration, or making their crew and boat available during the regatta. Pre-event scrutiny of other elements could be done, such as the looking at the boat’s weight or other data that is not easy to measure with short notice.

The first port of call on the journey of checking equipment and measurements for the Australian Yachting Championships is with the competitor themselves. Under the IRC rule and Special Regulations, ultimately it is the competitor’s responsibility to check that their boat’s measurements and safety equipment are good. The boat owner needs to familiarise themselves with the entry requirements, the rules applicable, and if uncertain, get an IRC Measurer or Equipment Auditor to check their equipment and compliance with the respective rule.

But it is a shared responsibility, nonetheless. The Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club and Australian Sailing want to run the best regatta. By having equipment inspections and event measurement done in a systematic way by a technical committee, they will have played their part in bringing integrity to how Australia’s best IRC rated yacht is determined.

For IRC click here.
The Racing Rules of Sailing are here.
For SailFest, click here.

By Glen Stanaway