Who runs sailing: World Sailing and the national authorities.

World Sailing

World Sailing calls itself the world governing body for sailing, covering fleet racing, match racing, para sailing and esailing. It says it is officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee, and it lists its headquarters in London.

The responsibilities it lists for itself are:

• Managing sailing at the Olympic Games (see Olympic sailing).
• Developing the Racing Rules of Sailing and the competition regulations.
• Training judges, umpires and other race officials.
• Developing the sport around the world and representing sailors.

About 120 class associations are members of World Sailing, and each one may hold a World Championship. World Sailing publishes the Racing Rules of Sailing on a four-year cycle; the current edition runs from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2028. It also publishes the Offshore Special Regulations, the safety rules for offshore racing, which its Special Regulations Sub-Committee maintains under licence from ORC Ltd.

A short history

According to Wikipedia (a secondary source), the body was founded as the International Yacht Racing Union on 14 October 1907, at a meeting at the Yacht Club de France in Paris. It became the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) on 5 August 1996 and took the name World Sailing on 14 November 2015.

We have not listed World Sailing's current president or its exact number of member national authorities. The only figures we found were on Wikipedia, and we could not confirm them from World Sailing itself as of October 2026.

National authorities

Each country has its own national body that runs sailing locally, trains instructors and officials, and can add national prescriptions to the racing rules. Four English-speaking ones:

US Sailing

US Sailing began as NAYRU, formed to promote yacht racing and to unify racing and rating rules in the US, Canada and beyond. Its stated mission is to grow American sailing and achieve Olympic excellence through education, competition and community. In practice it:

• Trains and certifies race officials, judges and umpires, and works to standardize racing rules and sailing instructions.
• Sets national guidelines and a nationwide curriculum for certified sailing instructors, and also runs powerboat courses.
• Trains, selects and manages athletes aiming for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
• Hosts 14 National Championships across racing disciplines.
• Runs Safety at Sea courses, which many offshore race organizers require.

US Sailing also sits at the center of US handicap racing. It owns the PHRF name, sanctions the regional PHRF authorities and maintains the national PHRF rule and appeals process. It is the IRC Rule Authority in the United States and issues every US IRC certificate, and its Offshore Office processes the data for ORC Club and ORC International certificates for US boats. Its "US Prescriptions" to the racing rules apply only inside the United States. See handicap systems for how these ratings work.

The RYA

The RYA is the UK national governing body for dinghy, motor and sail cruising, sail racing, RIBs and sportsboats, windsurfing and personal watercraft, and it represents inland waterways cruising. It reports more than 2,400 recognized training centers in more than 58 countries and more than 1,500 affiliated clubs. Its stated aims are to encourage people into boating, to promote safe boating, and to raise standards of yachting and sailing in the UK.

Its racing section covers dinghy racing, keelboat racing (including match racing, offshore racing and the British Keelboat League), team racing and para racing. The RYA administers the Portsmouth Yardstick handicap lists in the UK, and it describes the British Sailing Team as the most successful Olympic sailing team in history.

Sail Canada

Sail Canada (also styled Sail Voile Canada, and formerly the Canadian Yachting Association) describes itself as the national governing body for sailing in Canada. It is based in Kingston, Ontario. It sets standards and delivers programs across dinghies, keelboats, cruising, navigation, windsurfing, powerboating and para sailing.

Its member provincial associations are BC Sailing, Alberta Sailing, Saskatchewan Sailing, Sail Manitoba, Ontario Sailing, Voile Quebec, Sail Voile New Brunswick, Sail Nova Scotia, Sail Prince Edward Island and Sail Newfoundland. Sail Canada owns the CANSail Dinghy Program, which it delivers with those associations through member clubs and schools. CANSail sailor levels run from CANSail 1 to 6 alongside Wet Feet, ICANSail, Spinnaker, Trapeze, Foiling 1 and 2, and Para 1 to 6.

Australian Sailing

Australian Sailing describes itself as the governing body responsible for administering, promoting and developing sailing in Australia. It supports more than 360 clubs and more than 160 accredited Discover Sailing Centres. Its stated priorities include supporting clubs, growing participation and winning at the Olympics, with an aim of being the world's leading Olympic sailing nation, under its Sailing 2032 Strategic Plan. Wikipedia lists its headquarters as North Sydney and says it manages the Australian Sailing Team.

Its founding year could not be confirmed. Wikipedia's article text says 1950 (as the Australian Yachting Federation, at the Royal St Kilda Yacht Club), while the same article's infobox says 1956, and we found no primary source to settle it.

Through a partnership with the RYA, Australian Sailing gives sailors access to the UK-issued International Certificate of Competence, which matters for chartering abroad. See chartering.