About Sailing
Millions of people around the world practice sailing as a way of life. It has numerous enthusiastic supporters in the world, and is one of the few sports of modern day where age is not a factor. In fact, the older the sailor is, the more enhanced are his sailing abilities!
Sailing has always been linked with the history and activities of many nations since ancient times. It has played a crucial growth in a country’s growth and expansion with its’ mastering of the seas through navigation. The first sailing competition, the Cumberland Cup, was inaugurated in 1715, and is still held till today!
The first international sailing competition was the ‘Hundred Guineas Cup”, which was held in 1851. Nowadays, the same cup is called the Americas Cup, which was named, after the first winning boat “America”. Sailing was introduced in the Olympic Games in 1900, in Paris. The International Sailing Federation was founded in the year 1906 and now has 121 member-states with over half a million sailors!
International sailing events take place on waterways or tracks that are marked by marker buoys. With these waterways, the course of the sailing track is defined. The adventure in sailing lies in the fact that the competitors face not only their opponents, but also the unpredictability of nature. In sailing competitions, weather conditions play a very decisive part in the race. Each shift in wind strength or direction leads to the repositioning of the buoys. It is the job of the committees at sea to monitor the weather to lay the buoys accordingly.
There are many sailing races like single handed dinghy sailing, double handed dinghy sailing, windsurfing and keelboat sailing. Basically, there is no single ‘yacht type’ of boat. Instead there are many types that include sloops, catamarans, yawls and ketches.
Boat racing usually fall into three broad groups; one-design classes where similar boats compete, handicap class where dissimilar boats race and the rating classes where a variety of formulas take into account the boat length, type of rig, sail size and other factors. In sailing competitions, the sailor’s scores correspond to his or her final position.
This means that the first place sailor scores 1 point, the second 2,and so on. So the winner is the player with the lowest aggregate of all the scores in all the races, once all the worst scores have been discarded.
Originally, sailboats were made of wooden hulls with sails of sailcloth, called duck. However, nowadays, fiberglass hulls and synthetic fabrics have predominated the sailing scene with rigid wing sails being used in place of fabric sails to attain high speed. In recent times, ocean racing, which is an arduous and dangerous sport has gained increased importance. It is more a long-distance solo event.
Today, ocean racers sail advanced multihulled yachts with the aid of modern technology like sophisticated communication devices and satellite generated weather reports. Now with greater methods of boat building, sailing has become a sport not only for the wealthy, but also for participation from everyone.
People usually learn to sail by going sailing with family or friends. However, if you don’t know anyone who owns a boat, then you could undertake formal training to get a recognised qualification. The reason a recognised qualification is required is because many yacht charter companies ask for one when you charter yachts.
National associations or federations in many countries offer a series of courses through which one can get an internationally recognized qualifications. However, not only the federations, but also many private companies run these courses.