IYC Sailing Incorporated - Windsurfing Division are pleased to release the NOR for the 2026 AUSTRALIAN RACEBOARD CHAMPIONSHIPS
8th -11th January 2026
The NOR is here www.iycsailing.asn.au/windsurfing/2026-raceboard-national-championships
But this notice is to chat about the new fleet categories we have added for 2026.
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The participating fleets shall be:
Open Raceboard,
Any raceboard, as determined by the Raceboard class rules with max sail size of 9.5M.
Retro Raceboard,
Any pre-2004 raceboard with max sail size of 9.5M.
Windsurfer GT,
Any standard Windsurfer LT longboard and fin with max sail size of 9.5M.
Sprint.
Any raceboard with a max sail size of 9.5M. Competitors in the Sprint fleet will sail a shortened course.
There are no age or weight divisions within the fleets.
All fleets have a Men's and Women's division.
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So dust them off folks and come along with just any board that fits under the std raceboard classification.
But no D2, short or formula boards.
We will be sailing course, slalom and marathon events - weather permitting. All on longboards.
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We thought long and hard about the max sail size for both Retro and Windsurfer GT and have settled on just allowing anything up to 9.5m for this first event. At the very least, it should settle a few discussions...
Registrations aren't yet open, but feel free to reply with your interest/thoughts here.
Cheers,
Neil Dewey
Select to expand quoteberowne said..
"Sprint" Division is a polite inclusive name!
Not sure I like the idea the race committee can boot a competitor out of the open fleet and into the sprint fleet if they deem they are not fast enough. If you dont finish in the specified time that's your problem not the race committees.
Do any other sailing classes do that.
Select to expand quotecammd said..
What happened to age and weight divisions.
Just asking for an old fat dude
We just decided to simplify it all a bit, tbh. With most of us being old and stretching the wetsuits and with the addition of the 2 new racing categories - keeping age and weight divisions seems unnecessary.
Select to expand quoteNeilD said..cammd said..
What happened to age and weight divisions.
Just asking for an old fat dude
We just decided to simplify it all a bit, tbh. With most of us being old and stretching the wetsuits and with the addition of the 2 new racing categories - keeping age and weight divisions seems unnecessary.
Theres little chance of a 100kg guy having any hope against a 70kg guy across a regatta regardless of how well they sail.
Maybe there should be weight handicaps if you don't want divisions.
Are the official raceboard age divisions defined in C.2.3 (c - h) of the rules (link below) also being dropped from the raceboard open division in this nationals ?
The NoR section 3. (Rules) only indicates an exception to Rule C.8.1.(a) where it changes the official rule of three sails for Legend, Super Legend and Women divisions and a maximum of two sails for all other divisions to three sails for all ?
Link to current raceboard rules:
d7qh6ksdplczd.cloudfront.net/sailing/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/01093316/RAC_CR_2025_05May_01.pdf
What rules will apply when racing the slalom course.
Will the entire open raceboard fleet start together. Will the normal rules of racing apply, such as overlaps and buoy room etc. How is this going to work in the framework of a National Championship.
Am I reading this correctly that Raceboard divisions are taken out of Open at the Raceboard Nationals to accommodate non Raceboards at half the entry fee. That doesn't sound right. So a 65kg sailor will race a 100kg plus sailor while a 20 year old will race a 60plus year old in the open class as no divisions now.
Select to expand quoteNeilD said..cammd said..
What happened to age and weight divisions.
Just asking for an old fat dude
We just decided to simplify it all a bit, tbh. With most of us being old and stretching the wetsuits and with the addition of the 2 new racing categories - keeping age and weight divisions seems unnecessary.
A departure from the International Class rules and race format is a bad idea. I think this will see a decline in the Raceboard numbers in Australia.
I think the inclusion of a informal Retro division is a good idea, but why do the Raceboard sailors sailing a newer board have to subsidise the sailors using a retro board or an LT?
if you want simple, there are plenty of LT regattas that you can enter to satisfy simpleness.
Select to expand quoteCoops052 said..NeilD said..cammd said..
What happened to age and weight divisions.
Just asking for an old fat dude
We just decided to simplify it all a bit, tbh. With most of us being old and stretching the wetsuits and with the addition of the 2 new racing categories - keeping age and weight divisions seems unnecessary.
A departure from the International Class rules and race format is a bad idea. I think this will see a decline in the Raceboard numbers in Australia.
I think the inclusion of a informal Retro division is a good idea, but why do the Raceboard sailors sailing a newer board have to subsidise the sailors using a retro board or an LT?
if you want simple, there are plenty of LT regattas that you can enter to satisfy simpleness.
Hey Coops052, sorry for not replying earlier (for some reason seabreaze isn't notifying me on my own topic??)
No-one is subsidising anyone. We believe we can run the event for this amount and we are trying to encourage sailors that have left the sport to return - and that is already working. We are hoping people will get their older gear out and sail as many days as they can and not spend a fortune to enter. We have dropped the Open entry fee from last year as well.
Raceboard entries have been dropping year on year, that's a fact. So we are just trying something a little different. The race formats will be very similar (windward, leeward).
We have now tried a slalom event at club level to see how it went and it was a little chaotic - but a lot of fun in a 25knot Nor Easter. Still 50:50 I'd say at running one.
The marathon is much more likely, but we'll only run it if we have a nice breeze from the South or SE. We'll probably blast across the lake and back twice to keep it simple and all in.
There is simpler sailing and there are simple sails. These are two very different things.
Hope to see you there.
