How sailing competition is organized.

Sailing competition is organized in layers. At the top, World Sailing is the international federation recognized by the International Olympic Committee. It writes the Racing Rules of Sailing, and national authorities such as US Sailing and the RYA run the sport in their own countries. Below them sit yacht clubs, community sailing centers, school and college teams, and class associations. The RYA alone counts more than 1,500 affiliated clubs, and Australian Sailing supports more than 360.

The ladder, from the bottom up

• Club racing. Casual weeknight "beer can" races and weekend club series are where many sailors race for the first time. See getting into racing for how to find a ride.
• Handicap and one-design fleets. Different boats race each other on corrected time using a handicap such as PHRF, ORC, IRC or the Portsmouth Yardstick. Identical boats race boat-for-boat in one-design classes. See handicap systems.
• Regattas and championships. Multi-day events such as Cowes Week, national championships and class world championships. See major regattas.
• Offshore races. Point-to-point and around-the-world races such as the Fastnet, the Sydney Hobart, the Vendee Globe and The Ocean Race, with their own safety regulations. See offshore races.
• The top level. The Olympic Games, the SailGP league of identical F50 foiling catamarans, and the America's Cup, a match race between a defender and a challenger that dates to 1851.

Who sets the rules

World Sailing publishes the Racing Rules of Sailing and revises them every four years. The current edition covers 2025 to 2028. National authorities can add their own prescriptions, which apply only in their country. Each event then publishes its own documents, such as a Notice of Race. Our racing rules page explains how these pieces fit together, and the governing bodies page covers World Sailing and the national authorities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

Fleet racing, match racing and more

World Sailing's remit covers fleet racing, match racing, para sailing and esailing. The America's Cup Match is a match race between a defender and a challenger, while SailGP's 2025 season (Season 5) ended in a three-boat Grand Final. National bodies also run team racing; the RYA lists it alongside dinghy, keelboat and para racing, and US college sailing holds national championships in team racing, match racing and dinghy fleet racing.

Sailing without racing

Not every sailor wants a start gun. The same national bodies, along with the American Sailing Association, run the certification ladders that lead to bareboat charter. Our chartering page covers ASA and US Sailing bareboat courses, RYA Day Skipper, the International Certificate of Competence and flotilla holidays.

A note on dates

Every result on these pages gives its year. Where an event is still to come or a decision has not been made, we say so and date the statement as of October 2026.