The Owners’ Group is Australian Sailing’s link to owners of keelboats.

Australian Sailing has been hosting meetings of the Owners’ Working Group periodically to discuss issues of interest to keelboat owners in Australia. Some topics have been easier to grapple with than others.

Probably the most difficult issue is that of insurance, and that is addressed in a separate article on our website. The Group have recently successfully lobbied RORC and UNCL to change the IRC rules concerning whisker poles and how they are rated. Australian Sailing was able to respond permitting their use. Other changes will be subject of submissions to IRC. These concern constitutional change around submission processes, and how offshore/inshore configurations might be handled on a boat’s rating certificate.

Another project that the Group was interested in was the Australian Maxi Championship being run by the CYCA. Australian Sailing’s role was to facilitate discussion among the maxis’ owners and provide a report to the CYCA. The event will be a first for sailing in Australia and hopefully will put on the display we know maxi sailing can be.

Members of the Group hosted owners’ forums in Hobart and Sydney respectively. The main issue from Hobart was the price point of IRC which has since been addressed by Australian Sailing with tiered pricing making the rating system cheaper for smaller boats. The IRC system was generally agreed to be the best system that should be adopted however boat owners are watching the increased take up of ORC Club ratings with interest. Ultimately boat owners wanted certainty especially for major events such as the Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race. In Sydney the CYCA hosted a forum for its owners, and streamed it live. The forum was also well attended with both Australian Sailing and RORC speaking on safety, IRC and insurance.

For more information on ratings go to https://www.sailingresources.org.au/ratingshome_2021_22ud/

By Glen Stanaway https://www.sailing.org.au/about/ourstaff/