COMPETITIVE
SAILING

RACING BOATS

There is a broad variety of kinds of races and sailboats used for racing from large yacht to dinghy racing. All kinds of boats are used for racing, including small dinghies, catamarans, boats designed primarily for cruising, and purpose-built race boats.

REGATTA

On water, a sailing competition among multiple vessels is a regatta, which usually consists of multiple individual races, where the boat crew that performs best in over the series of races is the overall winner. Sailing race events are typically held for a single class (a single model of boat, such as the Islander 36) and usually last more than one day. Regattas may be hosted by a yacht club, sailing association, town or school as in the case of the UK's National School Sailing Association and Interscholastic Sailing Association (high school) regattas or Intercollegiate Sailing Association (college) regattas.

COMPETITIONS

FLEET RACING

Fleet races can have anywhere from four boats to hundreds of boats in a race. A regatta must have at least three races to be counted. Each boat's place in each race is added to compile a final score. The lowest scorer wins.

MATCH RACING

In match racing only two boats compete against each other. The best known competition of this type is the America's Cup. The tactics involved in match racing are different from those of other races, because the objective is merely to arrive at the finish line before the opponent, which is not necessarily as fast as possible. The tactics involved at the start are also special.

TEAM RACING

Team racing is most often between two teams of three boats each. It involves similar technique to match racing but has the added dimension that it is the overall scoring of the race that matters. In three on three team racing, this means that the team that scores ten or less points wins. For this reason, many tactics are used to advance teammates to make stable combinations for winning. The stable combinations most commonly sought are "Play one", which is 1-2-anything, "Play two"or2-3-4, and "Play 4", a 1-4-5 combination. These are generally regarded as the best setups to win and the hardest for the opposing team to play offense against.

COURSES

Harbor or buoy races are conducted in protected waters, and are quite short, usually taking anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. All sorts of sailing craft are used for these races, including keel-boats of all sizes, as well as dinghies, trailer sailors, catamarans, skiffs, sailboards, and other small craft.

This kind of race is most commonly run over one or more laps of a triangular course marked by a number of buoys. The course starts from an imaginary line drawn from a 'committee boat' to the designated 'starting' buoy or 'pin'. A number of warning signals are given telling the crews exactly how long until the race starts. The aim of each crew is to cross the start line at full speed exactly as the race starts. A course generally involves tacking upwind to a 'windward' marker or buoy. Then bearing away onto a downwind leg to a second jibe marker. Next another jibe on a second downwind leg to the last mark which is called the 'downwind mark' (or 'leeward mark'). At this mark the boats turn into wind once again to tack to the finish line.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_(sport)