1/1/2013 1:55:46 PM by Andrew Alberti

January 2013 - Rules Changes I

Every fourth year in the year after the summer Olympic Games, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) issues a new rule book.  As I start into my seventeenth year of writing these articles, this will be my fifth cycle of these changes.  There are many very minor changes this year.  Most of them will make no difference to the way most people sail.  For some, I will say the same thing that I said four years ago, “To know why the rule has changed, you sometimes have to recognize some loophole or confusing part of the older rule. If you didn’t understand the old loophole, it is a bit late to learn it now. As I go through the changes in the rules this year, I will try to not to concentrate too much on the older rule, but I will have to highlight the changes for those of you who understood the old rule.”