October 21, 2025
Webinar: 2026 Racing Rules Refresher
October 23, 2025 Longtime Sailing in Canada contributor…
May 13, 2024
The Rules Guy: Limitations on Right of Way Boats – Establishing Right of Way
May 15, 2024 The first four rules in Part 2 of the Raci…
February 12, 2024
The Rules Guy: After You Cross the Finishing Line II
Feb 14, 2024 In the last article I discussed a few situ…
January 29, 2024
The Rules Guy: After You Cross the Finishing Line
Jan 31, 2024 I had the opportunity to spend a weekend w…
December 11, 2023
The Rules Guy: Tacking III
Dec 13, 2023 Part 1 HEREPart 2 HERE Two articles ago I…
November 13, 2023
The Rules Guy: Tacking II
Nov 15, 2023 By Andrew Alberti In the last article we s…
September 19, 2023
The Rules Guy: Tacking
In a recent protest, it became clear to me that there is confusion about the rules related to tacking. Tacking is not defined in the rule book, but there are a few rules that either discuss tacking, or relate to what we commonly call “tacking”.
July 3, 2023
The Rules Guy: How to Finish With a Shortened Course
In the last article I discussed how to finish. Things get a little more confusing if there is a shortened course. I am going to illustrate some of the scenarios. The definition of finish says, “A boat finishes when after starting, any part of her hull crosses the finishing line from the course side.”
February 27, 2023
The Rules Guy: How To Finish
Last summer I observed several boats getting confused about where to finish. I am going to illustrate some of the scenarios. The rules are actually quite simple, but the application can sometimes confuse sailors.
January 17, 2023
The Rules Guy: Hails That Are Not Required
During my summer judging, I have heard some strange things about the hails people expect to hear. Last issue I discussed the three hails, “room to tack”, “you tack” and “protest” that are required in the Racing Rules of Sailing. This issue I will continue with other hails that are not required.
December 7, 2022
The Rules Guy: Required Hails
During my summer judging, I have heard some strange things about the hails people expect to hear. I thought that I should look at the rulebook, and see which hails are required.
October 2, 2022
The Rules Guy: Penalties and Sportsmanship
The rules of the game are pretty clear, if you break a rule, you need to take the appropriate penalty. This is listed very early in the rule book before any of the numbered rules under the title “Basic Principles – Sportsmanship and the Rules”.
May 30, 2022
The Rules Guy: Mark Room – When Do You Have to Gybe?
I have now written three articles about mark-room at a gybe mark. Last time, we talked about situations when you were allowed room to gybe. I finished off showing a case where you are required to gybe.
April 27, 2022
The Rules Guy: Mark Room – When Can You Gybe?
I have now written two articles about mark-room at a gybe mark. In both cases, the mark denotes a point at which boats would clearly need to assume a different tack to sail to the next mark. We typically call these marks gybe marks.
March 28, 2022
The Rules Guy: Mark Room at a Gybe Mark II
Last time, I started a discussion of mark-room at a gybe mark. I presented some fairly common scenarios that appear when two boats approach a gybe mark and round together. I am going to continue that discussion this month with some slightly more complicated situations.
February 14, 2022
The Rules Guy: Penalties – When and How to Take Them
This discussion is based on a situation that took place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (held in the summer of 2021) and some local youth regattas. When I first started to race, if you broke a rule, your only option was to drop out (or be protested out) of the race. This was a severe penalty for a simple incident.
January 16, 2022
The Rules Guy: Mark Room at a Gybe Mark
Mark rounding is a lot like the weather. It is genuinely complex, and it causes no end of trouble, particularly for those not paying attention. Rule 18, “Mark-Room”, takes as much space in the rulebook as Rules 10 to 17. There are a few slightly more complicated situations that I would like to discuss, but this month we will start with some of the basics.
April 21, 2021
The Rules Guy: New Rule Changes IV
This month, we continue our exploration of changes included in the 2021-2024 edition of the Racing Rules of Sailing. This edition brings a lot of changes, but few affect the way we sail on the course.
March 24, 2021
The rules guy: New Rule Changes III
This month, we continue our exploration of changes included in the 2021-2024 edition of the Racing Rules of Sailing. The next right-of-way rule that appears to have several changes is one that has changes every time a new rulebook comes out. rule 18, Mark-Room.
February 24, 2021
The Rules Guy: New Rule Changes II
This month, we continue our exploration of changes included in the 2021-2024 edition of the Racing Rules of Sailing. This edition brings a lot of changes, but few affect the way we sail on the course.
January 27, 2021
The Rules Guy: New Rule Changes for 2021
Happy New Year. It is the beginning of the year after what should have been an Olympic Games year, so it is time for a new Racing Rules of Sailing. The Olympics may have been delayed a year, but the rule book was not. The rules took effect January 1, 2021.
August 10, 2020
The Rules Guy: An overview of the right-of-way rules IV
This issue, we will look at Section C of Part 2, Marks and Obstructions. Many of my articles over the past 22 years have covered rules in this section, but this is…
June 10, 2020
The Rules Guy: An overview of the right-of-way rules III
In the past two issues we have been doing an overview of the right-of-way rules. In the first, we did a review of Section A of Part 2, in the second we did a review of the definitions. This issue, we will look at Section B of Part 2, General Limitations, which is essentially limitations applying to boats that have right of way according to Section A.
May 25, 2020
The Rules Guy: An overview of the right-of-way rules II
Last column we started an overview of the right-of-way rules. That issue focused on Section A of Part 2. At the end of that article, I said would next focus on the definitions.
May 25, 2020
The Rules Guy: An Overview Of The Right-Of-Way Rules – instalment 1
As we start a new sailing season, I am going to start a new view of the right-of-way rules. I hope that by giving an overview, I can help my readers understand the rules for themselves.