What is more exciting then traveling on the water with fabulous speed and talking with the wind?That is how sailing racing can be best described. Sailboats are mostly 2.3m long and sailing are of 10.7square metre.
There are many kinds of races in sailing and also variety of boats which are used for sailing. Some of the common types of races include:
Harbour Races:
These are conducted in Protected waters and are very safe. As they are conducted in limited water area these last for a small time ranging from few minutes to a few hours. These races are conducted in laps so that they become longer and they are started from an imaginary line and end on a Starting buoy line. Each crew is given a number of signals so that they pass the starting line at there maximum speed. All most all sizes of boats can be used for these races including keelboats of all sizes.
Offshore Races:
Offshore races as the name suggest are conducted in deep waters away from the shore.These are on unprotected water and hence always a little bit of risk is involved. These races go on for hours and the longest offshore race is the circum navigation of the world. These races may include crews or may be a single handed races. The single handed races have gained popuplarity in the last several years but are more risky then the races with the crew members because in single hand races the individual cannot keep a proper look out,he keeps a sporadic lookout due to sleep and other problems while races with crew members can keep a proper lookout. Offshore races whether single or with crew are the most popular ones.
Other races:
Other races include many variations such as paddling,cycling and sailing. One such example is the three peak race in the UK.
In sailing racing everything depends on the speed of the boat and the speed of the boat is dependent upon various factors such as it's length, weight, types of sails. It is also dependant upon the skills of the person handling the boat. But if different boats are used in the same race then it becomes difficult to compare the skills of the two sailors due to this two measures are used which are either all use the same boats or handicapped system is used.
When the same boats are used the result of the race depends on the skills of the crew and sailor rather than on the talent of the boat and hence the best team is destined to win and this makes the comparison alot more easy to decipher. When all the boats in the race are of not the same type the handicapped system is used. The handicapped system measures the average speed of the boat based on the previous performance or on the specifications of the boats.
Depending on this measurement each boat is timed over an specific course and in the end this time is added to the finish time of the boat and the winner is determined. In this method it becomes more complicated to determine the team with the best skills.
So in this way sailing racing is conducted all over the world. So if you fancy sailing just grab your boat and head out to one of these races. |
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