Racing Rules of Sailing

Our Review
The racing rules of sailing blog will help you sort out tactical situations, who is right and wrong. Jos Spijkerman became an International Judge in 2005 and just recently (November 2007) an International Umpire

This blog is for sailors, for officials, coaches, organizers and anybody who has to deal with the rules. If you are a volunteer helping your club run the Thursday-evening-regatta you can find some tips to help you, or a link to an easy scoring program. For protest committee-members there are rule-explanations and actual protests to study. Coaches can get an insight how officials think and relate to sailors. If you are studying the rules, to become a National Judge or Umpire or an IJ or IU, there are test-questions and links to websites with information. Sailors can ask questions and find out what the rules mean. Umpires can keep up their skill by answering new calls and improve their communication. Race officers can read about things that work to run a smooth event or learn from my mistakes.

This blog tells you about my experiences as a sailor, my insights and thoughts as a judge, umpire and race officer and about the events I attend. How I became an IJ and IU and what I do to improve and stay on top.

My name is Jos Spijkerman and started sailing when I was 11 years old. Together with two brothers and a sister, I own a 6 meter national class keel boat (Valk 742) and we fight about which colour it should be painted. Ive been a sailing instructor in the past for 12 years and in more recent years involved in many local, national and international sailing events as a sailor or as an official.

I became an International Judge in 2005 and just recently (November 2007) an International Umpire. Volunteering for two local clubs, KWVL (Langweer) and the KWS (Sneek), doing unpaid work for our National Authority and attending as many events as I have days for, I can say that "the rules" play a big part in my life. And now Ive started blogging about them as well....

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