16ft Skiff Sailing Instructions

Part A - General

  1. Programme of events shall be as defined in the Port Hunter 16ft Skiff Sailing Programme.
  2. All racing shall be conducted under the current rules of the NSW 16ft Skiff Association.
  3. Each skiff must conform to the class rules.
  4. Sails may be used only once in a non-championship race before measurement. No equipment may be used in a Club Championship before measurement. Measurement must be conducted by an appointed Club Measurer and sails marked and initialled by same. (Note: The Club Measurer's boats and sails should be checked by someone else.)
  5. Skiffs and equipment must be made available to be checked by the Club Measurer upon the request of 3 members of the sailing committee.
  6. All sailors must be members of the Club. Sailors who have competed in 3 Pointscore races without paying membership fees are ineligible to compete in further events.
  7. A representative from each registered skiff must attend each meeting of the sailing committee, which occur at 12:30 on the 1st programmed racing day of each month of the sailing season.
  8. Notices to sailors will be posted on the Official Noticeboard at the western end of the Club hall.
  9. Any changes to the sailing instructions will be posted by 13:30 on the day it will take effect.

Part B - Club Championship

  1. Any race where at least 3 skiffs start will count as a Heat of the Club Championship.
  2. The Championship pointscore is a low-points system as per RRS Appendix A Low Point System. One result may be dropped for every 4 Heats completed.
  3. Skiffs attending Association approved regattas when a Club Championship race is conducted will receive points equal to the average of that skiffs points from the previous 3 Club Championship races, or all those completed if less than 3. The skiff does not rank as a starter.

Part C - Season Pointscore and Handicaps

  1. The Season Pointscore is a low-points system as per RRS Appendix A Low Point System. All programmed Pointscore races to count.
  2. Skiffs attending Association approved regattas when a Pointscore race is conducted will receive points equal to the average of that skiffs points from the previous 3 Pointscore races. The skiff does not rank as a starter.
  3. Handicaps are maintained by the Handicap Committee that is appointed by, and responsible to, the Sailing Committee. No two members of the Handicap Committee may sail together in the same skiff.
  4. A 5-minute handicap bonus will apply to skiffs sailing 4-handed in all club races.
  5. For its 1st handicap win a skiff will be penalised 3 minutes, 2nd win 4 minutes and each win thereafter 5 minutes. A 2nd place incurs a penalty of 2 minutes. 3rd place incurs 1 minute. When a skiff is penalised such that it would have a negative handicap, it will instead stay on zero minutes (scratch) and push all other skiffs that finish that race by the remaining handicap penalty.
  6. Where the scratch skiff fails to start or finish the next lowest handicap becomes the effective scratch skiff. For example, if the lowest handicap skiff “A” to start is on 5 minutes, and comes 3rd, then it will push all other finishers out 1 minute. If also, in this example, a skiff “B” on 6 minutes records it's 1st win, then “B” shall go to 5 minutes and push all those skiffs that finished out 2 minutes. This means that skiff “C” which finished but did not run a place will gain 2 minutes from, say, 10 minutes to 12 minutes. Skiff “A”, mentioned previously, will gain (2 - 1 =) 1 minute and will be on 6 minutes for the next race.

Part D - Courses

  1. Courses shall be as defined in the accompanying 16ft Skiff Courses for Club Racing document, unless amended on the day due to harbour restrictions or bad weather.
  2. The course chosen to be sailed on each day shall be agreed upon by a majority of representatives from each of the skiffs intending to race.
  3. When a decision to abandon or shorten a race due to dangerous conditions must be made the starter will abandon the race if less than half of the race has been completed or shorten the course otherwise.
  4. A time limit of 2 1/2 hours applies for the first skiff to finish and a limit of 3 hours applies to all other skiffs. The times are measured from the first competing skiff's starting signal. When considering shortening a race for reasons other than dangerous conditions a target time of 100 minutes applies.