Sailing Series Rules

Springfield Lakes Radio Yacht Club
2025 Scratch and Handicap Championship Series Rules
Ver 4.0 - 15/02/2025

1. These rules apply to the International One Meter, DF65, DF95 club championship events.

2. There will be 12 rounds in each Class which will be run on a Saturday from 12.00 or 12:30 PM as detailed on the club event calendar. In the event that a round needs to be postponed, the Committee will decide if the round will be rescheduled or cancelled.

3. The IOM, DF65 and DF95 series will consist of 6 handicap events and 6 scratch events for each class. The scratch and handicap events for each class will be scored concurrently.  This will provide for 1st, 2nd & 3rd place getters for each class. The 1st place getter will be the class champion.

4. A round will need to have at least 5 starters to be considered a valid round. Any round must complete 6 races to be considered a valid round. If a round is cancelled due to insufficient entries or bad weather, then every effort will be made to reschedule the round.  

5. There is no cost for entry and sailing is open to any skippers with a recognised boat; however, only club members will have their scores recognised for the series championship.  There will be one scoresheet released for the day which will include scores for visitors and non-members, however for calculating championship points the scores for the visitors and non-members will be removed from the final score sheet. Competitors joining the club on the same day as the competition will have their scores counted for that day, however any previous scores will not count, and they will be awarded the DNC score for that day.

6. Suitable prizes will be presented at the end of the series for 1st, 2nd & 3rd class placegetters.

7. The combined handicap and scratch scores will determine the club champion for the IOM, DF95 and DF65 classes.

8. Scoring will be based on the HMS low score principle.

9. An IOM, DF65 and DF95 class series will have 3 discarded rounds applied to individual scores to determine the place getters.  The application of discards is subject to rule 4 above.

10. A special award called “The Clubman Award” will be awarded a club member who achieves high attendance throughout the year. This attendance score will be taken from the daily sign on sheets. The award will also take into consideration the members contribution to helping the club with BBQ’s, RO, Scoring and any other assistance to the running of the club. This award is designed to recognise significant commitment to the sport and our club. The committee will make the final decision prior to the annual award presentation.

11. Once a skipper has sailed in one of the rounds, he is then regarded as an entrant for the whole of that series.

12. The DNC (Did Not Compete) score is awarded for days not sailed.

13. DNC Penalty calculated as follows.
    (Penalty loading (1) + the number of boats that have sailed in the class series (i.e. DF65, DF95, IOM etc). For example, if the number of boats that have sailed in the class series is 15, then the DNC Score for each round would be 16.

14. The handicap series races will be run under a handicap system with 25% of the fleet promoted and 25% of the fleet demoted.  Examples are shown below.

15. Fleets up to 7 boats, the boat finishing 1st in a race will have 10 seconds added to their last start time and the boat finishing last will have 10 seconds removed from their last start time.

16. Fleets from 8 boats and up to 11 boats, the 1st 2 boats in a race will have 10 seconds added to their last start time and the last 2 boats will have 10 seconds removed from their last start time.

17. Fleets from 12 boats and up to 15 boats, the 1st 3 boats in a race will have 10 seconds added to their last start time and the last 3 boats will have 10 seconds removed from their last start time.

18. Fleets from 16 boats and up to 19 boats, the 1st 4 boats in a race will have 10 seconds added to their last start time and the last 4 boats will have 10 seconds removed from their last start time.

19. Fleets of 20 boats or more, the 1st 5 boats in a race will have 10 seconds added to their last start time and the last 5 boats will have 10 seconds removed from their last start time.

20. If any boat’s handicap has not altered for 2 races, then it will have 10 seconds deducted from their last start time.

21. DNC/DNS/DNF competitor scores are not counted in the handicap system for that race; they hold their current handicap position for the next race.

22. The first race of a Handicap series event will see all skippers start on 30 seconds.

23. All boats/skippers’ handicaps at the end of the day's racing are recorded and stored for the next round.

24. The first race of the next round of the series all boats/skippers start using the recorded handicaps from the previous round that they entered. Any new boats/skippers start their first race on 30 secs handicap. If a skipper has missed a round/rounds they resume on their last recorded handicap.

25. Where possible the days’ racing will be under the control of a Race Officer (RO).  If a non-competitor RO is not available, then the RO duties will be shared race for race between the competitors.  A skipper acting as the RO for a race will score his average score of the day.

26. The days’ program will be as follows.

BBQ Day -:

i.12:20 pm is race briefing

ii.12:30 pm timer countdown will commence for the first race

iii.5-minute break following race 1 to fine tune boats (if required)

iv.Racing continues with 2 minutes between finish and start until the RO calls a 10-minute break

v.Following the break racing continues with 2 minutes between finish and start until RO calls a halt to the days’ racing.

vi.The last race of the day will start no later than 3.00pm.

     No BBQ

i.11:50 am is race briefing

ii.12:00 pm timer countdown will commence for the first race

iii.5-minute break following race 1 to fine tune boats (if required)

iv.Racing continues with 2 minutes between finish and start until the RO calls a 10-minute break

v.Following the break racing continues with 2 minutes between finish and start until RO calls a halt to the days’ racing.

vi.The last race of the day will start no later than 2.30 pm.

All boats will sail according to the specifications contained in the relevant class rules unless advised.