You know who you are

by Tom Duggan, Chair, US Sailing Race Management Committee
A problem that has been building for some time seems to be reaching critical mass. The increasing proliferation of ‘exotic’ sailcloth has created an issue with sail number color contrast – or rather lack thereof.

The race committee’s already tricky task of identifying sail numbers has become extremely difficult in an increasing number of boats and regattas. The problem has been previously highlighted in Scuttlebutt, but for me reached its peak at the 2024 ORC World Championship in Newport, RI.

As the Principal Race Officer, we had to pull four boats aside after a day when we could not read their sails at all. We had them change their sail numbers overnight in order to be scored in the remainder of the championship. It was a bit painful for the boat owners, but they were able to get it done, and they continued in the regatta.

As race managers, we would rather not get involved in issues like this, but it has become clear that the only way to solve the problem is for us to get involved. The rule that governs Identification on Sails is Appendix G. In particular, G1.2(a)(3) reads “National letters and sail numbers shall be of a contrasting color to the body of the sail.”

Obviously ‘contrasting’ is in the eye of the beholder. In this case, the beholder is the race committee trying to identify numbers on a start or finish line that could be many hundreds of feet long, with varying light conditions. Black sails with gray or blue numbers that seem visible from your cockpit or spread out on your lawn are not ‘contrasting’, and may well be absolutely invisible from a distance.

I have spoken with a sailmaker who tells me it is not difficult to replace sail numbers. The four boats I mentioned at the ORC Worlds proved that it could be done overnight. So, fixing a sail number contrast issue and complying with a rule that should have been complied with all along should not be a heavy lift.

If you are a sailmaker, your help would be most appreciated. We can’t solve this without you. As you well know, some color combinations are much better than others. We are hoping you can help your clients pick colors that best meet the ’contrasting colors’ requirement.

For competitors who want an absolute answer to what colors to use, there is none. There is no set color requirement. We need people to apply common sense so that we can get sails that we can read.

The Race Management Committee of US Sailing will be communicating with all US certified race officials and as many US Organizing Authorities (OA) as possible. We will request that OAs and race committees highlight rule G1.2(a)(3) in their NORs and SIs. Regardless of whether or not the rule is highlighted, from this point forward, if a competitor is using sails that do not comply with Appendix G, our guidance is for race committees to face this issue head on.

I have communicated with OAs and race managers who are currently enforcing this rule. I have seen a combination of boats protested and/or simply scored as DNS or DNF when sails cannot be read by the race committee.

Appendix G4 reads “When a protest committee finds that a boat has broken a rule of this appendix, it shall either warn her and give her time to comply or penalize her”. I learned from my ORC Worlds experience that overnight was ‘time to comply’. I would hope that a protest committee would view highlighting the rule in NOR and or SIs would be a very good warning and would feel comfortable penalizing a boat in such a situation.

My hope is that it is unnecessary to protest anyone. No one wants to. All we want is sails that we can read. But for some time now we’ve all been treating this issue with benign neglect, hoping it would get better, and it has only gotten worse. For many of us it is still pre-season, with time to get it done without panic.

Heads up. It’s time to fix this.