By Paul Elvstrøm and Søren Krause
Adlard Coles, an imprint of Bloomsbury Nautical $30
Review by Joe Cooper
The definitive work on the subject since the 1960s, this latest edition comes with THE BOATS, of course.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far…etc., the go-to book on the Racing Rules of Sailing was a pocket-size paperback called Elvstrom Explains the Racing Rules. This was the Great Dane’s overview of the rules and his explanation of situations and outcomes, a precursor, say, to similar publications today written by either of The Daves.
Anyone racing sailboats from 1969 and every four years onwards will remember this handy, nay, necessary book, made notable, even above the authority of the author, the standing of Elvstrøm in the sailboat racing universe, by the set of model boats tucked into the back cover, similar to the ones we coaches all use on whiteboards today. Well, as The Arnold said, “I’m Baaack.”
Our mates at that august British maritime publishing house Adlard Coles (he of Heavy Weather Sailing) have produced a contemporary edition of Elvstrøm Explains the Racing Rules, complete with the model boats. This 16th edition, edited by one Søren Krause, an international racing judge, is a great and very handy tool for anyone involved in racing. Not only for the model boats but for the easy navigating of the very large, and seemingly increasingly so, sea bag of Racing Rules of Sailing.
Mr. Krause introduces us to the book with a page titled “How to get the best use out of this book.” Here is a bloke I could readily buy a beer for. He goes on: “It is divided into three sections.” Follow along here – it makes much more sense reading the book than reading me writing about it. (My comments in parentheses.)
There are three different colored squares, like square bullet points.
The first one is Gray,
The middle box is Red,
And the third one is White with a red line cross hatching.
The colors refer to the text in the body of the book.
The Gray box is the official language of the RRS. The actual rules.
The Red box reads: A simple explanation of the various situations that can arise under each rule, supported by birds-eye line drawings. (The perfect time in the chalk talk to break out the model boats. No whiteboard needed. If you’re careful, you could do it in the car en route to the regatta.)
The White box with red cross hatching is a reference to World Sailing case interpretations. (And this part is really slick. Rather than carting around several kilos or terabytes of World Sailing case books, this layout cuts to the chase.)
In practice, one can read the rule and the explanation of the rule. Then go to the cited page numbers (in Red). For instance, under definitions there is the language of the rule (the Gray text). Down the right margin is a blank space ruled off from and adjacent to the text, and, where needed, is a number printed in Red. This number refers to the page in the book where is enumerated the expansion on the intricacies of the rule, the Explanations.
For example, Rule 10 ‘on opposite tacks’, here is the one sentence rule, the Port and Starboard rule. Possibly the first rule any novice learns. In the right margin, printed in red is the number 148. This is the page number with the explanation and diagrams. Turn to page 148.
On page 148 is a sketch of the application of the rule. Also on 148 in the left margin is another number. In this example, the number(s) are 209, 210. Turning to pages 209 and 210 takes you to a section with the Red cross hatch on the top of the page with a reading of the World Sailing interpretation of the rule.
Fan-Bloody-Tastic, I reckon.
Page 8 is headed Summary of the Rules Changes for 2025-2028 rules and covers exactly that.
Page 9 is a must-read for any high school or college sailor, or junior program coach, titled Brief Notes of Guidance for making a Protest/Request a Hearing. (Coop’s pro tip: HAVE A WITNESS.)
Of the three Prout sailors that helped me with the pictures for this review, only one had been in a protest. Typically, I need to spend a couple hours discussing protests. This section is literally the punch list for protesting. This alone is worth the $30 price of admission. (I note without fear or favor my copy of US Sailing’s waterproof RRS from the last quad was $29.95.) This latest book, with all the extra info and THE BOATS, is a bargain. (I loved the boats back in the day.)
Hannah watching the debate
But wait, there’s more. The last bullet item in this section is a table of knots in meters per second. (OK, it is a European book. Break out the calculator on yer phone.) So, at one knot you are traveling 0.51 meters (about 20 inches) per second. At 8 knots you are traveling at 4.12 meters (near as damn the LOA of a 420) per second – about 14 feet. Pay attention to how fast your boat is coming into the bottom mark zone kids. (Pro tip: bring a waterproof handheld GPS with you one day and see just how slow…I mean fast…a 420 really goes. I’ve done it with the NavX app on my phone while following the boats.
And my favorite bullet-point in the Preparing for a Protest section? Item 11: “…come prepared…” Scream it from the mastheads (and see my pro tip above).
Then there’s the Contents, the Introduction and on page 17 we start to find the real new breeze pressure: Definitions, with the aforementioned Red numbers down the right margin. Page 21 covers Basic Principles, and we’re off to the races, more or less literally.
If you’re reading this you know the RRS is a pretty long and arguably too complex body of rules. The actual rules needed on the water, Part Two, When Boats Meet, comprises only about three facing pages in the book, Rules 10-18. There are 232 pages in this ready reference book, versus 173 in the RRS 2020-2024.
Cici and Hailey reviewing a rule
On the other hand, being on the water, getting there in the first place, adhering to the NOR, the SIs and all the other details everyone else – almost universally volunteers – is doing to get us our two or three hours of fun per race day, and to keep it a reasoned, seamanlike and civil game, well it needs rules. And in Elvstrøm Explains the Racing Rules, (the regrettably late) Paul Elvstrøm, Søren Krause and Adlard Coles have done a great job making it easy for us to make sense of not only the meat and potatoes of sailboat racing, but all the extra trimmings that come with it. Nice job, boys and girls. ■
Special thanks to Prout sailors Hailey Dunn, Hannah Richards and Cici Borme and their families, as well as Taylor and Mia of Team One Newport who, on a Sunday afternoon, provided the space for our photo shoot.
