ILYA #FairSailing Initiative

Starting in 2018, the Inland Lake Yachting Association (ILYA) and SailZing.com began to work together on the #FairSailing Initiative. This initiative was formed in response to sailor concerns that too many sailors were making rules “mistakes” and causing difficulty between competitors. A root cause assessment uncovered that too many sailors didn’t fully understand the rules or the implication of rules affecting each other. A smaller group knew the rules rather well, but could “exploit”, to their advantage, a lack of rules knowledge in other teams. By increasing knowledge of the rules broadly, the ILYA and SailZing.com hope to take big steps toward solving both issues. We continue to update the content as the rules change or new insights are discovered.

New for 2025-2028: Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028: What Changed and Why – a quick tour of what changed on 1 January 2025, with a short, plain-language reason for each change.

What is Fair Sailing?

What is Fair Sailing? Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028

Sportsmanship

Core tenets of the rules are Sportsmanship & Safety. We offer a few articles explaining why Sportsmanship matters and good behaviors to model to keep sailing fun and fair for all competitors.

Sportsmanship in Sailing: Ten Behaviors to Model

Know the Rules
Follow the Rules
Enforce the Rules
Be Courteous
Be Fair
Be Honest
Communicate
Move On
Help and Encourage Others
Be Prepared

Read the article for more depth on the topic and links to examples.

Regatta Etiquette – Nine “Commandments”

We also have a section for Safety and will keep adding more relevant content to that area.

Safety

Conduct of a Race

Conduct of a Race: Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028 – Discusses various aspects of race management including starts, signals, changing the course, penalties, etc. as well as a few questions to challenge your knowledge and a link to cases.

New Course Designations – Racing Rules of Sailing 2017-2020

Starting Signals

Race Signals 2025-2028: Summary and Quiz

starting sequence chart – warning at 5 minutes, preparatory signal at 4 with P, I, Z, U or black flag, one minute, start at 0, plus individual and general recall flags

Racing Rules plus Insights

We focused mainly on the Racing Rules of Sailing Part 2 – When Boats Meet. Obviously, this is where most issues arise. We itemize key rules and show scenario diagrams and animations to help to illustrate the rules in action.

Rule 10 – On Opposite Tacks: Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028

Rule 11 – On the Same Tack, Overlapped: Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028

Rule 12 – On the Same Tack, Not Overlapped: Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028

Rule 13 – While Tacking: Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028

Rule 14 and Rule 15 – Avoiding Contact and Acquiring Right of Way: Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028

Rule 16 – Changing Course: Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028

Rule 17 – On the Same Tack, Proper Course: Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028

Propulsion

With the addition of the nimble Melges 15 class, the focus has been drawn back to the kinetics most often deployed while sailing dinghies – Opti, Laser, Club 420, 470, etc. College sailors are well-versed in the techniques and know that getting close to breaking the rules may be required to finish top three. But, how do you know when you’ve gone too far?

Rule 42 – Propulsion: Part 1 of 2 (updated for 2025-2028)

Rule 42 – Propulsion: Part 2 of 2 (updated for 2025-2028)

Rules Scenarios

In the following articles, we depicted various rules scenarios to better illustrate some interesting cases. You should go through, and understand, the following scenarios before taking the quizzes.

ILYA #FairSailing – Rules Scenarios #1

ILYA #FairSailing – Rules Scenarios #2

ILYA #FairSailing – Rules Scenarios #3

ILYA #FairSailing – Rules Scenarios #4

ILYA #FairSailing Rules Scenarios #5

ILYA #FairSailing Rules Scenarios #6

Rules Quizzes

Test your knowledge with several quizzes. NOTE: To participate, you need to create a free SailZing.com user account.

Race Signals Quiz – Take the 10 question multiple choice race signal flag quiz to sharpen your on-water recognition of Race Committee instructions. Use this article to prepare for the quiz.

#FairSailing Level I Racing Rules Quiz – You’ll need to correctly answer at least 11 of the 15 questions (at least 73%) to progress to the next unit. The 15 questions are randomly picked from a larger set.

#FairSailing Level II Racing Rules Quiz – You’ll need to correctly answer at least 7 of the 10 questions (at least 70%) to progress to the next unit. The 10 questions are randomly picked from a larger set.