Sailing Championships

Each season the boats race in a number of championships.

  • Club Championship. This championship consists of a series of scratch races throughout the season.
  • Season Championship. Is based on all the championship races over the season excluding the Australian championships
  • Spring, Summer and Autumn point score. There are three season handicap point scoring series. Spring, Summer and Autumn series which run for about 2 months each.
  • Australian Championship.  The Australian Championship is run around the end of January. It consists of three or four races.  Usually these are run over a four or five consecutive day period.
  • Ladies Day. Ours is called “Queen of the Harbour”The practice arose from the days when sailing was an all-male affair.  Women won the right to sail on the 18-footers by raising money (serious money it was too) for charity.

Handicap.  Each boat is given a time handicap.  This varies week to week based on the performance of each boat on the last weekend.  The scratch boat starts at 2.30 and other boats start before that time based on their handicap.  The maximum handicap is 15 minutes.  A boat with the maximum handicap would start at 2.15. These handicap starts are also known as Mark Foy starts as originally devised by the Club’s founder Mark Foy.

Authenticity Ratings. In addition to time handicap, each boat is given an authenticity rating. This rating is based on a number of criteria and applies for Championship Races. Each Championship Race has both a points score winner based on handicap, and a Championship Race winner based on the authenticity rating.