New Racing Rules of Sailing 2017-2020

The new Racing Rules of Sailing 2017-2020 has come into force from 1st January.

You can see and download a copy from the World Sailing web site here.

There are changes to sailing administration however there don’t appear to be any big changes to the rules.

Rule 18.3 has been reworded to clarify the situation when a boat tacks onto starboard in the zone at a windward mark being rounded to port. The words are new but the concept is unchanged in that the boat already on starboard coming into the mark does not have to sail above close hauled to avoid collision with the late in tacker. This is an often observed situation in our big fleets at the first windward mark so good to have a refresh read of the rule.

New Rule 18.3