Felixstow Regatta

1.1. The regatta will be governed by the rules as defined in the Racing Rules of Sailing
(RRS) 2009 - 2012.

2.1. Notices to competitors shall be posted on the official notice board located in the marquee adjacent to the clubhouse lightship.

3.1. Any change to the Sailing Instructions will be posted at least three hours before the first start of the first race of each day.

3.2. Any change to the Schedule of Races will be posted by 18:00 on the day before the schedule change takes place.

4.1. Signals made ashore will be displayed from the Haven Ports Yacht Club flag staff at the Clubhouse Lightship.

5.1. IRC boats will be divided by their rating into five classes as indicated in the ‘Class Flags’ table.

5.2. The Cruiser Classes will be divided into Class 5 (Cruiser, no spinnaker), Class 6 (Cruiser with spinnaker), Class 7 (Classic Boats).

Class	TCC	Flag
Zero	1.091 & above
One	1.010 - 1.090
Two	0.960 - 1.009
Three	0.900 - 0.959
Four	0.750 - 0.899

Class	Yacht	Flag
Five	Cruiser, no spinnaker
Six	Cruiser, with Spinnaker
Seven	Classic Boats

8.1. The courses will be devised by the Race Committee when located in the race area.

8.2. The intended location of the start line will be broadcast to the relevant classes not later than 30 minutes before the first race of the day. It is intended that the IRC Classes will start offshore. The Cruiser Classes may start at Beacon Hill buoy, but should be prepared for an offshore start.

8.4. The Race Committee (call sign ‘’Regatta One’’) will use VHF Ch 72 to communicate with the IRC Classes addressing the fleet as ‘Felixstowe IRC Fleet’.

8.5. The Race Committee (call sign ’’Regatta Two’’) will use VHF Ch 77 to communicate with the Cruiser Classes and address the fleet as ‘Felixstowe Cruiser Fleet’.

8.6. All boats should monitor their respective VHF Channel from at least one hour before the start time of the first race of the day. See SI’s 11, 12, and 13.

(1) "Beacon Hill" is the Harwich Town Sailing Club's yellow spherical racing buoy situated approximately 2 cables north of the seaward end of the Dovercourt mole.

(2) Mark No’s 1, 3, 7, and 9 are seasonal special racing marks. Their approximate positions are Armada Buoy 51° 52'.83 N, 01° 22'.19 E Cork Ledge 51° 54'.50 N, 01° 23'.40 E Pennyhole 51° 53'.55 N, 01° 18'.00 E Fox’s 51° 54’.00 N, 01° 21’.00 E.

(3) Marks X, Y & Z (Drop Marks) are brightly coloured inflatable type racing marks. Their position will be broadcast with the course.

(4) Medusa, Outer Ridge, Pye End, Stone Bank, Wallet No2 and NE Gunfleet, are all fixed navigation buoys.

10.2. The Harwich Deep Water Channel is marked by buoys indicated in current Admiralty Charts and/or designated by Harwich Haven Authority Notices to Mariners. These mark the Harwich Deep Water Channel and include Landguard and Guard buoys.

10.3. Competitors, while racing, shall not pass on the channel side of any buoys marking the Harwich Deep Water Channel, neither shall they cross an imaginary straight line between any two adjacent marker buoys. If any boat fails to comply with this instruction, she shall retire promptly.

10.4. If a boat becomes disabled and begins to encroach on the Deep Water Channel or any designated commercial shipping channel, she shall immediately advise Harwich VTS on Ch 71 and comply with all Harwich Haven Authority instructions.

11.1. Races will be started using RRS rule 26, altered to include the following addition:
An attention signal (Flag F with one sound) will be made five minutes before the warning signal of the first class to start. Flag F will be removed with one sound signal one minute before the first warning signal.

11.2. IRC Classes. The starting order will be Class 4, Class 3, Class 2, Class1, Class 0 at five minute intervals. The warning signal for each succeeding class shall be made with the starting signal of the previous class.

11.3. Cruiser Classes. The starting order will be Class 5, Class 6, Class 7 at ten minute intervals. The warning signal for each succeeding class will be made five minutes after the start signal of the previous class.

11.4. The Starting Boat for the IRC Classes will display the Royal Harwich Yacht Club flag (or burgee, or pennant) and an orange flag when on station. The Starting Boat for the Cruiser Classes will display the Haven Ports Yacht Club flag (or burgee, or pennant) and an orange flag when on station.

11.5. The starting line will be between a staff displaying an orange flag on the Starting Boat and the outer limit starting mark which may be an independent buoy, a mark as listed in SI 9, an inflatable mark, or a boat wearing an orange flag on a staff.

11.6. The Starting Boat may be protected by an Inner Limit (or Stand Off) Mark. If present, boats shall not pass between the Inner Limit mark and the Starting Boat when it is on station. A dinghy, or other floating object secured alongside or streamed astern, shall be regarded as part of the Starting Boat.

11.7. A boat whose warning signal has not been made shall avoid the starting area.

11.8. The Race Officer may use VHF radio to advise time checks and a count down to signals. After the One Minute Signal, the Race Officer may advise the starting class (without identifying individual boats) that boats are ‘OCS’. Failure to make a broadcast or to time it accurately will not be grounds for a request for redress. This changes Rules 62.1(a), and is in addition to Rule 41.

12.1. The Race Committee will signal any alteration to the course using the provisions of Rule 33.
in addition, the Race Committee may broadcast the alteration to the course repeatedly on the fleet's communication channel. This changes Rules 62.1(a), and is an addition to Rule 41.

13.1. The finishing line will be between the finishing mark and a Committee Finishing Boat wearing an Orange flag (End of finishing Line) and a Blue flag (boat on station for a finish).

13.2. In the event of the committee boat not being on station, the finishing line runs from the finishing mark at 90 degrees to the rhumb line from the previous mark, for a distance of 1 cable. Boats shall finish in the direction from the previous mark leaving the finishing mark to the hand indicated by the given course. Competitors should take their own finishing time, and the names of the boats finishing immediately before and after them if in sight, and present this information and the timepiece used to take the time to Race Office within 2 hours of finishing the day’s racing.

15.1. Boats failing to finish within 1 (one) hour after the first boat in its class sails the course and finishes will be scored Did Not Finish without a hearing. This changes rules 35, A4 and A5.

16.1. Protest forms are available at the Race Office. Protests and requests for redress or reopening shall be delivered there within the appropriate time limit.

16.2. The protest time period will commence at 17:00 hours or two hours after the last boat has finished the last race of the day, whichever is the later. The opening of the protest time period shall be signalled by displaying International Flag Code B (Bravo) on the official flag staff ashore (SI 4) with one sound signal. The protest time period shall close one hour later and shall be signified by lowering International Code Flag B, with one sound signal. The same time period applies to the Race Committee about incidents they observe in the racing area and to requests for redress or reopening.

16.3. Notices will be posted on the official notice board within 30 minutes of the end of the protest time period to inform competitors of hearings in which they are parties or named as witnesses. Hearings will be held in the jury room located at East Anglia Sea School, Suffolk Yacht Harbour at the times stated. The time of the first hearing will be posted and hearings will be conducted in the order they are listed.

16.4. Notices of protest by the Race Committee or Protest Committee will be posted as in SI 16.3 to inform boats being protested under rule 61.1(b).

16.5. Breaches of instructions in Notice of Race 3, 10, 11, 12, and 15, and SI’s 10, 11.7, and 18 will not be grounds for a protest by a boat. This changes rule 60.1(a). Penalties for these breaches may be less than disqualification if the Protest Committee so decides. The scoring abbreviation for a discretionary penalty imposed under this instruction will be DPI.

16.6. On the last day of the Regatta a request for reopening a hearing shall be delivered
(a) within the protest time period if the party requesting reopening was informed of the decision on the previous day;
(b) no later than 30 minutes after the party requesting reopening was informed of the decision on that day.
This changes rule 66.

17.1. Races and the Series will be scored using RRS 2009-2012 Appendix A, Low Point System. Appendix A 9 will not apply.

17.2. Scoring under rule A4.2 shall be altered as follows:
Did Not Compete (DNC) – Declared entry plus one.
Did Not Finish (DNF),Did Not Start (DNS), On the Course Side (OCS) and Retired After Finishing (RAF) – Starters plus one.
Disqualification (DSQ) and Disqualification Not Excludable (DNE) – Starters plus 3.

17.3. Discards.
Overall Regatta. If five or four races are completed, one discard is allowed. If three or fewer races are completed, no discard is allowed.
Regatta Team Challenge. No discard is allowed.

18.1. Any boat significantly delayed while racing, but not requiring assistance, shall report her situation and estimated finishing time to the Race Committee.

18.2. A boat that leaves the race area with the intention of not starting further races that day shall report her decision to its Race Committee.

18.3. A boat that retires from a race shall notify its Race Committee as soon as possible.
Important Note: Any boat not accounted for at the end of racing may be reported to Thames Coastguard as overdue. To avoid unnecessary emergency action, any boat which while racing suffers serious damage or gets into difficulties but does not require assistance shall advise Thames Coastguard of her situation by normal VHF procedure or by telephone (01255 675518). She shall then, if possible, advise the Race Committee.

19.1. Unless stated otherwise in One-Design Class Association Rules no crew limitations will apply.

19.2. For the purposes of applying IRC Crew Limitation Rules, no race forms part of a Regatta.

19.4. Substitution of damaged or lost equipment will not be allowed unless approved by the Race Committee. Requests for substitution shall be made to the Race Committee at the first reasonable opportunity.

19.5. For the purpose of IRC Rules 26.1.5 (d) and (e) this Regatta is on consecutive days. No changes to the sails carried mat be made.

20.1. A boat or equipment may be inspected at any time for compliance with the class rules and sailing instructions. On the water, a boat can be instructed by a Race Committee official to proceed immediately to a designated area for inspection.

22.1. Competitors participate in the Regatta entirely at their own risk. See rule 4, Decision to Race. The organising authority will not accept any liability for material damage or personnel injury or death sustained in conjunction with or prior to, during, or after the Regatta.

22.2. A boat is entirely responsible for her own safety, whether afloat or ashore, and nothing, whether in the Notice of Race or Sailing Instruction or anywhere else, reduces this responsibility.

22.3. It is for the boat to decide whether she is fit to sail in the conditions in which she will find herself. By launching or going to sea, the boat confirms that she is fit for those conditions and her crew is competent to sail and compete in them.

22.4. Nothing done by the organiser can reduce the responsibility of the boat nor will it make the organisers responsible for any loss, damage, death or personnel injury, however it may have occurred, as a result of the boat taking part in the racing. The organisers encompass everyone helping to run the race and the event, and include the organising authority, the Race Committee, the race officer and committee boats.

22.5. The boat is responsible to ensure that she is equipped and seaworthy so as to be able to face extremes of weather; that there is a crew sufficient in number, experience and fitness to withstand such weather; and that the safety equipment is properly maintained, stowed and in date and that the crew knows how to use it.

22.6. The fact that the Race Committee conducts inspections of a boat does not reduce the responsibility of the boat set out herein.

23.1. Each participating boat shall be insured with valid third party liability insurance with a minimum cover of £2,000,000 or the equivalent.