SURVEY: Mixed teams for match racing

It doesn’t matter who you are, sailing skills improve when alongside better people. For youth sailors, pair them with adults for improvement. For less experienced sailors, immerse them with veterans to speed them along. But opportunity to upskill is not always available, particularly for women in the male dominated sport.

Thus, the U.S. Match Racing Championships Committee is considering a proposal to require at least one female on each team in the 2022 U.S. Match Racing Championship (USMRC) and its Qualifiers.

The USMRC has launched a survey to assess the sentiment for this idea. A similar but different proposal was made in 2016 and was not implemented at that time based in part on a survey’s results.

This proposal is in line with the global effort to increase opportunities for women to compete at the highest levels of the sport, including the Olympics and The Ocean Race. The College Match Race Nationals currently requires at least one female be on each team, as does the U.S. Youth Match Racing Championship and the Youth Match Racing World Championship.

World Sailing grades match racing events and sets the maximum weight allowed based on the minimum number of crew permitted at 193 pounds. If teams are permitted to sail with 3 or 4, the total max weight is 579 pounds. For teams of 4 or 5, the max weight is 772 pounds. It has been suggested for the World Sailing Match Racing Committee to address weight limits for mixed events.

The survey should be completed by November 28 in advance of the Match Racing Committee meeting on December 1, but the survey remains open until December 5 to receive additional feedback before the US Match Racing Championships Committee meeting on December 7.

To complete the survey, click here.