Yachting is the use of recreational boats and ships called yachts for racing or cruising. Yachts are distinguished from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose. "Yacht" derives from the Dutch word jacht ("hunt"). With sailboats, the activity is called sailing, and with motorboats, it is called powerboating.
Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course marked by buoys or other fixed navigational devices or racing longer distances across open water from point-to-point. It can involve a series of races when buoy racing or multiple legs when point-to-point racing.
A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head.
Team racing, also known as team sailing, is a popular form of dinghy racing and yacht racing. Just 2 teams compete in a race, each team sailing 2, 3, or 4 boats of the same class. The winning team is decided by combining the results of each team's boats. This differs from an inter-club fleet race where boats from 3 or more clubs compete. Then the results of each club's boats are combined to give their club's overall position.
Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) is a handicapping system used for yacht racing in North America. It allows dissimilar classes of sailboats to be raced against each other. The aim is to cancel out the inherent advantages and disadvantages of each class of boats, so that results reflect crew skill rather than equipment superiority.
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) makes and enforces numerous rules and regulations that transcend all racing series.
Christopher Stuart Dickson is a sailor from New Zealand. He was world youth champion three years in succession and later became world match race champion three times. He also skippered several yachts in America's Cup racing, and for New Zealand at the 2000 Summer Olympics, and in numerous other sailing competitions.
The Launceston to Hobart yacht race is a 285 nautical mile race, commencing at Beauty Point on the Tamar River, with competitors sailing out of the Tamar River, east along the northern coast of Tasmania, through Banks Strait and south down Tasmania's East Coast, through Mercury Passage between mainland Tasmania and Maria Island, across Storm Bay, to a finish line in the Derwent River. The race departs on 27 December each year. The race is known as the L2H race despite the race commencing at Beauty Point, some 45 kilometers north of Launceston.
Over time, several scoring systems for Sailing were used during the Summer Olympics. Many of these systems were also used by other regattas in their times. In order to understand how the medals in the Olympics were handed out one must have a look at the scoring system of that specific olympic sailing regatta.
The sport of sailing involves a variety of competitive sailing formats that are sanctioned through various sailing federations and yacht clubs. Racing disciplines include matches within a fleet of sailing craft, between a pair thereof or among teams. Additionally, there are specialized competitions that include setting speed records. Racing formats include both closed courses and point-to-point contests; they may be in sheltered waters, coast-wise or on the open ocean. Most competitions are held within defined classes or ratings that either entail one type of sailing craft to ensure a contest primarily of skill or rating the sailing craft to create classifications or handicaps.
The men's Laser was a sailing event on the Sailing at the 2012 Summer Olympics program in Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy. Eleven races were scheduled and completed. 49 sailors, on 49 boats, from 49 nations competed. Ten boats qualified for the medal race. For the medal race, the top ten boats qualified. Each position scored double points. All medal races were sailed on course area Nothe in front of Weymouth.
The Men's Finn was a sailing event on the Sailing at the 2012 Summer Olympics program in Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy. Eleven races were scheduled and completed. 24 sailors, on 24 boats, from 24 nations competed. Ten boats qualified for the medal race on course area Nothe in front of Weymouth, where each position scored double points.
The men's 470 was a sailing event on the Sailing at the 2012 Summer Olympics program in Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, in the 470 dinghy Eleven races were scheduled and completed. 54 sailors, on 27 boats, from 27 nations competed. Ten boats qualified for the medal race on course area Nothe in front of Weymouth, where each position scored double points.
The women’s 470 was a sailing event on the Sailing at the 2012 Summer Olympics program in Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, in the 470 dinghy. Eleven races were scheduled and completed. 40 sailors, on 20 boats, from 20 nations competed. Ten boats qualified for the medal race on course area Nothe in front of Weymouth, where each position scored double points.
The men's Star was a sailing event on the Sailing at the 2012 Summer Olympics program in Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy. Eleven races were scheduled and completed. 32 sailors, on 16 boats, from 16 nations competed. Ten boats qualified for the medal race on course area Nothe in front of Weymouth, where each position scored double points.
The 2014–15 Volvo Ocean Race was the 12th edition of the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race. It started on 19 October 2014 in Alicante, Spain, and concluded in June 2015 in Gothenburg, Sweden. After 38,739 nautical miles of ocean racing, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing led by skipper Ian Walker claimed the overall trophy.
Sailing competitions at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo are scheduled to take place from 25 July to 4 August 2021 at the Enoshima Yacht Harbor in Enoshima. The RS:X, Laser, Laser Radial, Finn, 470, 49er, 49erFX, and Nacra17 are all returning for 2020; there are no significant changes to the Olympic programme from 2016.
Sailing at the 2013 Southeast Asian Games took place at Ngwesaung Beach in Ngwesaung, Myanmar between December 13–20.
The Star Sailors League (SSL) is the global inshore sailing circuit launched by Olympic athletes in 2012. Supported by the sailing stars like Loïck Peyron and Dennis Conner, the SSL is recognized as "special event" by World Sailing since 2017. Its main philosophy considers the athletes as the "Stars". Its goals are:
The Men's Fleet Racing Keelboat is a sailing event on the Sailing at the Southeast Asian Games programme at the National Sailing Centre.
