Sailing Instructions

1. RULES

1.1 The event is governed by the rules as defined in The Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028, except when obviously not relevant for VSK or this regatta.

1.2 No national authority prescriptions apply. 

1.3 The boat only consist of the hull and mast with regards to the RRS.

1.4 The definition Racing is changed as follows: A boat is racing from 2 minutes before the start until she finishes and clears the finishing line and marks, or retires or is "ghosted" by VSK 5 seconds after having crossed the finishing line.

1.5 In the definition Zone the distance is changed to two hull lengths.

1.6 If VSK gives a penalty for RRS 11, 12, 15, 16 or 18, then there has been contact between the two involved boats even if the any of the replays shows that there was no contact, except if there was extra ordinary lag involved.

1.7 Information derived from VSK shall be considered as correct with regards to

1. what tack a boat is on,

2. lack of luffing rights, and

3. zone entry and overlap status at entry, except when two boats are overlapped indirectly through another boat.

1.8 RRS 14 does not apply for a boat with right of way, or a boat entitled to room or mark-room.

1.9 Changes to RRS 20:

1.9.1 The hail in RRS 20.1 shall be replaced by "RTT" or "Room to tack" written in the chat.

1.9.2 Add to RRS 20.1: In addition she shall not hail if the obstruction is a boat racing and the distance to an upwind mark to be rounded to port is less than 0.100nm (as shown as DNM on the instrument panel).

1.9.3 RRS 20.2(c) is changed as follows: If the conditions in RRS 20.1 are met, the hailed boat shall respond either by

• tacking as soon as possible, or 

  • write "You tack" / "YT" / "T" in the chat or,

  • if she is able to, wait until the hailing boat begins her tacking manoeuvre,

and then giving the hailing boat room to tack and avoid her.

1.10 The hail in RRS 60.2(a)(1) shall be replaced by "P <boatname>" or "Protest <boatname>" written in the race chat. Another identifying word may be used instead of the boatname. If the hail is for a situation the hailing boat was part of, it is not necessary to add a name to the hail.

1.11 A request for cancellation is to be considered as a hail for protest by default from any competitor in the race. This changes RRS 60.2(a)(1).

1.12 A penalty from VSK is to be considered as a hail for protest by default from any competitor in the race, but only with respect to RRS 2. This changes RRS 60.2(a)(1).

2. CHANGES TO THE SAILING INSTRUCTIONS

2.1 Any change to the sailing instructions will be published before 20:00 CET in order to be valid for any races the same day.

3. COMMUNICATION

3.1 Notices to competitors will be posted on the official notice board on Discord, on the front page of winter.vsk-team.com or by email. It's the responsibility of the competitors to track these sources for information, in addition to the SI.

3.2 [DP] While racing, except in an emergency, a boat shall not make or receive voice transmissions or data communication that is not available to all boats. The official Discord channels for each fleet are the only voice chats that are considered available to all boats.

4. ELIGIBILITY AND ENTRY

4.1 The event is open to all boats of the ACC class.

4.2 Boats may enter the event by registering online within 11.01.2025 at 20:00 CET.

4.3 Late entries may be accepted by the race committee.

4.4 Boats with a reputation of unfair sailing will be denied entry to the event.

4.5 [DP] Boat shall during all races use the same VSK login name as per the entry and display a boat name that will identify them uniquely.

5. CODE OF CONDUCT

5.1 [DP] Competitors shall comply with reasonable requests from race officials.

6. SCHEDULE OF RACES

6.1 The races will be held every Monday and Thursday at 21:00 CET for 3 weeks, starting 13.01.2024 and ending 30.01.2024. Two races per race day.

6.2 The estimated race duration for each race day is approximately 1.5 hours.

6.3 The passwords to the races are given in SI 13.4.

7. FORMAT

7.1 The regatta will consist of a qualifying series and a final series.

7.2 For the qualifying series boats will be assigned to different fleets of, as nearly as possible, equal size. The target maximum fleet size is 20. The fleet assignment can be seen on the scoreboard 24 hours prior to the next race. If more than 20 assigned boats are present at a fleet server, the boats with the lowest ranking shall instead join the fleet server with fewest boats. The RC will instruct what boats to go where. If there is a differerence in number of boats at each server at 21:00 CET at race day, the RC may also alter the fleets to make them more even.

7.3 Assignments for the first two race days will be based on the seeding from the VSK5 ELO Ranking, core rating values. Late entries for the first race day will be assigned to fleets by the race committee at their discretion.

7.4 Assignments for race days 3 and 4 will be based on the standing in the regatta.

7.5 Fleet assignments will follow the up and down principle.

1. Assignments will be based on the standings available at 20:00 CET the day before each race day, regardless of protests or requests for redress not yet decided.

2. A participant who does not show up for racing without informing the RC by posting in the briefing room on Discord, has been absent for 2 race days or frequently cause extraordinary lag effects, may be excluded from the regatta and not assigned to fleets in the remaining of the series.

3. A participant who does not show up in time for racing on the first race day without notice, may be replaced by a reserve skipper, in the order specified on the notice board on Discord.

7.6 If a skipper announce to the RC that he/she cannot join for a race day after the assignments have been made, the RC may at their discretion manually move a skipper from one fleet to another in order to make them equal level wise and in size.

7.7 If the assignments result in a fleet without a host or a video recorder, the RC may at their discretion manually swap skippers between two fleets.

7.8 Twenty boats will be assigned to the final-series on the basis of their ranks in the qualifying-series. Finalists who are not present within 21:03 CET for race F1, may be permanently replaced by reserves who are stand-by, in the order of their ranking.

8. COURSES

8.1 The courses to be used will soon be available at the downloads page.

8.2 The 8 courses are assigned the following codes:

• Course 1: Tang Dynasty

• Course 2: Ti Noz

• Course 3: Västra Hamnen

• Course 4: The High Road (adjusted "Along the Coast")

• Course 5: Horse Shoe

• Course 6: Con Brio

• Course 7: Lernacken

• Course 8: Gymnopédie (slightly adjusted)

8.3 The courses shall be used in the different races as described below:

• Day 1, Race Q1: Course 1

• Day 1, Race Q2: Course 2

• Day 2, Race Q3: Course 3

• Day 2, Race Q4: Course 4

• Day 3, Race Q5: Course 5

• Day 3, Race Q6: Course 6

• Day 4, Race Q7: Course 7

• Day 4, Race Q8: Course 8

• Day 5, Race F1: Course 2

• Day 5, Race F2: Course 4

• Day 6, Race F3: Course 6

• Day 6, Race F4: Course 8

9. PENALTY SYSTEM

9.1 RRS 44.1 is changed so that the Two-Turns Penalty is replaced by the One-Turn Penalty.

9.2 Penalties assigned by VSK may be requested to be cancelled. Penalties that are requested to be cancelled shall be cancelled (approved) by the other competitor.

9.3 A competitor who does not approve a cancellation after being requested, will be scored DSQ by the race committee without a hearing, except if not being able to cancel. This changes RRS A5.1. A boat that could have approved a cancellation, but did not, shall leave the race.

10. TIME LIMITS

10.1 Boats failing to finish within 5 minutes after the first boat sails the course and finishes, and not subsequently retiring, penalized or given redress, will be scored Time Limit Expired (TLE) by the race committee without a hearing. A boat scored TLE shall be scored points equaling "the points scored by the last boat that finished within the Finishing Window + 1 + (number of TLE boats - 1) / 2". This changes RRS 35, A5.1, A5.2 and A10.

10.2 [NP] When the time limit is reached, the affected boats shall change to spectator mode to end the race.

11. SCORING

11.1 Except for race scores excluded under SI 11.3, a boat’s series score for the regatta will be the total of her race scores from all races.

11.2 RRS A5.2 is changed as follows:

• A boat that was on the water at the race server before 2 minutes before the start, but did not start, did not finish or retired, shall be scored points for the finishing place equaling the number of boats that were on the water on the race server before 2 minutes before the start.

• A boat that did not compete or was disqualified (DSQ) shall be scored points for the finishing place one more than the number of boats that were on the water on the race server before 2 minutes before the start in the largest race of the flight.

• A boat that was disqualified (DNE) shall be scored points for the finishing place two more than the number of boats that were on the water on the race server before 2 minutes before the start in the largest race of the series.

11.3 Excluded races

1. When fewer than 3 qualifying races have been completed, a boat’s series score will be the total of her race scores.

2. When from 4 to 7 qualifying races have been completed, a boat’s series score will be the total of her race scores excluding her worst score.

3. When 8 qualifying races have been completed, a boat’s series score will be the total of her race scores excluding her two worst scores.

4. No scores from the final series will be excluded.

11.4 The scores in the final series shall be used to break ties before the scores in the qualifying series. This changes RRS A8.

11.5 The last sentence of RRS A8.1 is deleted.

11.6 The results for each race in the regatta will be submitted to the VSK5 ELO Ranking.

12. HEARING REQUESTS

12.1 The protest time limit is 09:00 CET (morning) the day after the races.

12.2 A hearing request form is available on the protest page.

12.3 For situations which

• included a VSK penalty, and

• there was contact between the two boats, and

• none of the involved boats took a penalty,

it is not necessary to submit a protest. Such situations will be considered as a protest by the protest committee by default and will be processed accordingly without informing the boat. This changes RRS 60.2(a)(2) and 60.3.

12.4. A list of race incidents will be published after each race, including protests, cancellations and other hails under the protests menu item.  Protests and hearing requests will be listed in a separate table on the same page. Decisions from the protest committee will be posted in those lists with limited explanations given.

12.5 If the protest committee decides to protest a boat under RRS 60.1, it does not need to inform her. The current hearing will proceed as if the boat was originally included in the protest. This changes RRS 60.2(a)(2).

12.6 Each boat will be judged based on their own replays, if available. If one replay shows contact, and the other not, it will be considered as contact if the boat with right of way or right to room get hit in a way that makes the boat lose speed (typically on the bow). It's the responsibility of each competitor involved in a situation to submit their own replay. The replay can be uploaded at the dedicated Discord channel. If a boat does not submit her replay, the host replay or any other submitted replay will be the used.

12.7 If request for redress is received, or if the protest committee in a hearing finds that a rule has been broken, redress may be given in the following situations, in addition to those listed in RRS 61.4(b):

1. If a cancel request is refused or not answered.

2. If a boat is affected by another boat's "ghost". I.e a boat which has already disconnected.

3. If a boat is compelled to touch a mark, and receives a penalty from the VSK umpire for breaking RRS 31, which cannot be cancelled.

4. If a boat is disconnected from the race due to connection problems or similar, redress shall be given as the worst result a boat under normal circumstances could have scored. If a boat disconnects before the 1st mark, her redress will be points as if she finished at the place behind all the remaining boats in the race.

5. If a boat may have broken a rule just before or after finishing, and is not able to take a penalty turn because VSK has classified her as finished, she is entitled to redress if she admits breaking a rule. This announcement has to be made to the RC or PC within 3 hours after the last race of the day (preferably post on Discord). The redress will be an adjustment of the boats finishing time as if she promptly took a penalty turn.

6. A boat that has responded to an invalid hail for RTT.

7. If a boat is significantly slowed down, stopped or starts to sail backwards due to

   1. a collision with another boat obliged to keep clear or give room, or

   2. being luffed to a broach while the other boat was breaking a rule,

it must be considered that the boat is physically damaged as described in RRS 44.1(b) and RRS 61.4(b)(2).

13. [NP] HOSTING

13.1 Race hosts for each race day will be appointed by the race committee to host the races as specified in this chapter. See the notes field on the scoreboard for host assignments.

13.2 Remove any active guest list or black list.

13.3 Reboot your computer before setting up the server, make sure no unnecessary programs are running, and make sure that no others on the network are affecting  your hosting quality.

13.4 Set up the race server no later than 20:50 CET

Server name: VWC Fleet <A-X> (Enter the code of your fleet)
Password: winter
Password for spectator: silence
Max Players: 25
Max Spectators: 5 (or as announced by the RC)
Race mode: Fleet Race
Rules mode: Complete (Auto)
Game Type: Tactical
Ladder mode: Forced

Course selection: In accordance with SI 8. Leave all settings to default.

13.5 Check if boats that enters the race belongs to your fleet.

13.6 Be ready to start the first race of a day at 21:00 CET, but wait for confirmation from the RC in the discord briefing channel. Start the subsequent races no later than 5 minutes after the conclusion of the previous race (inform about any intention of a bio break). Remind the video operator to start recording. Do not restart for skippers entering late, unless they were in the race lobby with problems getting in to the particular race. If a boat disconnects from the server, restart the race if the boat returns to the server as ghost before the 1 minute signal, except if a restart of the race already has been made for that boat.

13.7 If the host disconnects, the reserve host will take over as host. The disconnected race will be resailed if less than 50% of the boats in the race had rounded the second mark. Otherwise the race will be scored by the protest committee according to the situation in the race at the point of disconnection.

13.8 After the first boat has finished until the last boat is finished, do not use any of the menu operations like saving replay or kicking boats, as this may lead to boats being omitted from the scores.

13.9 If a boat does not finish within the maximum time limit as given in SI 10, the host may ask the boat to go spectator. If there is no response, the kick option may be used.

13.10 After each race

• Save the replay of the race with name [RaceId]-[Fleet] (example Q3-B). Remind the others to do the same

• Take note of any other incidents that may affect the scores

• Proceed to next race (or exit the server if it was the last) when everybody has had time to save their replays.

13.11 After a complete race day, post the following to the host channel on Discord asap:

• Race identification (For example Fleet B)

• Result files.  The result files are automatically saved by VSK in the Results folder. Do not change the filename of these files.

• The race replays. Please make sure the filenames of these files are according the the race identification.

• Any other information the RC needs to enter the correct scores, like

  • the order a boat may have crossed the line in without being registered by VSK

  • boats not reaching the time limit

  • boats that were kicked due to extreme lag

  • boats that were disconnected but hanged in the race and caused problems