The Conwy River Festival Committee wish to thank Adlard Coles for the following extracts from 'The Rules Book 2001 - 2004' by Eric Twiname ISBN 0-7136-5859-2

The rules are built on simple and precise ideas; these are the building blocks and they must be understood if the full meaning of the rules is to become clear.

The racing rules apply to boats that are racing or sailing in or near the racing area and intend to race or have been racing. Penalties for breaking the 'when boats meet' rules come into force at the preparatory signal (usually 4 minutes before the starting signal) and apply to a boat until she has finished and cleared the finish line. A boat not racing (before the preparatory signal or after finishing and clearing the line and marks) is subject to the racing rules but will be penalised only if she interferes with a boat that is racing (Part 2 preamble and rule 22).

A boat which breaks a rule without realising it and which therefore continues racing and is later disqualified after a protest has exactly the same rights under the rules as other boats racing (ISAF Case 1). A boat that continues to race without taking a penalty, knowing that she has broken a rule, violates the basic principle: Sportsmanship and the Rules.

A boat is on starboard tack when her starboard side is her windward side. Conversely, a boat is on port tack when her port side is her windward side. However, when sailing directly downwind or by the lee, she is on the tack corresponding to the opposite of her mainsail. Sailors who have problems knowing which tack they are on can usefully paint 'starboard tack' on the starboard side of the boom and 'port tack' on the port side. It saves having to think (Definitions).

The term 'close-hauled' defines a direction of sailing in relation to the wind; the angle from the wind is different for different classes of boat and to a lesser degree among boats of the same class with different wind speeds, boat speeds, and sailing style.

'A boat's leeward side is the side that is or, when she is head to wind, was away from the wind. However, when sailing by the lee or directly downwind, her leeward side is the side on which her mainsail lies. The other side is her windward side. When two boats on the same tack overlap, the one on the leeward side of the other is the leeward boat. The other is the windward boat' (Definitions).

A boat is luffing when she is changing course towards the wind. Other phrases commonly used to mean the same as luffing are: 'hardening up', 'pointing up' and 'putting the helm down'.

A boat that is bearing away is changing course away from the wind. Other phrases commonly used are: 'bearing off', 'bearing down', 'freeing off' and 'putting the helm up'.

'One boat is clear astern of another when her hull and equipment in normal position are behind a line abeam from the aftermost point of the other boat's hull and equipment in normal position. The other boat is clear ahead.'

'Boats overlap when neither is clear astern or when a boat between them overlaps both' (Definitions).

'Luffing rights' is a colloquial term. A boat is said to have 'luffing rights' over a boat to windward when she has the right to sail above her proper course even if it forces the boat to windward to change course to keep clear. Any leeward boat has luffing rights unless she became overlapped from clear astern within two of her hull lengths. If the leeward boat changes course she must give room to the windward boat to keep clear, and if the windward boat has the right to room at a mark or an obstruction, the leeward boat must give room.

An obstruction is 'an object that a boat could not pass without changing course substantially, if she were sailing directly towards it and one of her hull lengths from it. An object that can be safely passed on only one side and an area designated by the sailing instructions are also obstructions. However, a boat racing is not an obstruction to other boats unless they are required to keep clear of her or give her room' (Definitions).

Obstructions include shorelines, heavy patches of weed, fishing nets, shallows (real or perceived), moored boats, motor boats, cruising boats and, in some situations, other boats racing.

A mark is 'an object the sailing instructions require a boat to leave on a specified side, and a race committee vessel surrounded by navigable water from which the starting or finishing line extends. An anchor line and objects attached temporarily or accidentally to a mark are not part of it' (Definitions).

A mark's ground tackle is not counted as part of the mark, but when a boat runs into the mooring line and is drawn on to any part of the mark itself, above or below water, she is counted as having hit the mark.

'A boat starts when after her starting signal any part of her hull, crew or equipment first crosses the starting line.....' She finishes 'when any part of her hull, crew or equipment in normal position, crosses the finishing line in the direction of the course from the last mark, either for the first time or after taking a penalty..... after correcting an error made at the finishing line'.

A postponed race is delayed before its scheduled start but may be started or abandoned later.

The race committee may abandon a race after it has started only for certain specific reasons. It may rescedule an abandoned race or cancel it. After one boat has sailed the course within the time limit, if any, the race committee shall not abandon the race without considering the consequences for all boats in the race or series (rule 32).

A collision happens when there is contact between any part of one boat (including all rigging, sails and sheets) or her crew and any part of another boat or her crew.

Although a boat is never required to sail her proper course, in some situations a boat is required to sail 'no higher than her proper course' and in certain other situations 'no lower than her proper course'. A proper course is any course a boat would sail to finish as soon as possible in the absence of the other boats referred to in the rule using the term (Definitions).

The reference to 'the other boats referred to in the rule' means that a boat required 'not to sail above her proper course' may, for example, change course to clear her wind or to gain a tactical advantage over a boat or boats ahead or behind.

Proper course refers to the course the boat makes good and not the direction she is pointing, and provided that it is a reasonable choice, a boat's proper course is whatever her helmsman considers is the best course (ISAF Case 14).

There is no proper course before the start signal.

The racing rules use the word 'boat' to mean any racing sailboat (sailboards, Optimists, Lasers and 505s, Ocean Racers, Multihulls, remote-controlled models).