NEW GRADING CRITERIA AND ADMINISTRATION FOR RANKED EVENTS

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1. Ranking Divisions

There shall be two divisions - Open and Women. The Women's Division is limited to events which specify that all crew members, including the skipper, shall be women. All other events are Open. Points scored in Women's events shall count only towards the Women's ranking list. Points scored by an all women team in an Open event shall count towards the Open list and the Women's list, without any adjustment.

2. Administration

2.1 Application for Grading

ISAF will provide grading application forms on request.

The form shall be completed by the event organiser, endorsed by the relevant Member National Authority and received by the ISAF office at least four months prior to the event. This may be by electronic mail. An event grading will then be allocated by ISAF.

When Grade 1 is requested and the event clashes with an existing Grade 1 event, the latest event to submit its application will be requested to change its dates. Failure to change dates may result in downgrading. An event applying for Grade 2 may be notified of other Grade 1 or 2 events being held at the same time as soon after application as practical and be given the option to select alternate dates. Event organisers are requested to avoid clashes by checking their dates with other events shown on the ISAF Web-site.

The allocation of gradings by the ISAF office will be checked on a sample basis, as directed by the Chairman of the Match Racing Committee. A report of event gradings will be made annually to the Match Race Committee.

The organisers shall submit an ISAF event report, including the results and other specified information, checked and signed by the Chief Umpire. The event report shall then be sent by fax or e-mail to the ISAF office. It shall be submitted within 5 days for events graded 3, 4 or 5, or within 24 hours for events graded 1 or 2. As from the 1 May 2002, Grade 1, 2 and 3 Match Race Event Results shall include the Skippers ISAF Sailor ID. ISAF Sailor ID’s can be obtained from www.sailing.org/isafsailor

Events may be re-graded retrospectively when there is clear reason to do so. An event applying to be up-graded retrospectively must satisfy ISAF that it clearly meets all the criteria of the higher grading.
Application for upgrading shall be made at the time of submission of the results and be accompanied by an application form completed in full. The application form will be similar to the initial application form appropriate to the grade of event. An event will only be down-graded when it fails to meet the criteria by a substantial margin, or when it does not comply with the administration requirements.

A skipper accepting an invitation but withdrawing within two months of the event may be reported by the organiser to the ISAF. After review by ISAF late withdrawals may receive a 'zero' score, which must be counted for the competitor's ranking.
Invitations should be in writing and include the following statement 'Should you accept this invitation and later withdraw within two months of the event it is possible for a zero score to be applied to your Ranking points for that event by ISAF.'

In signing the Grading Form, Events confirm that all umpires will be covered by comprehensive liability insurance in an amount of not less than US $1,000,000 per occurrence covering legal liability in respect of personal injury and property damage.  The cover should include (but not be limited to) liability directly or indirectly arising from the ownership, possession or use of any watercraft in connection with the umpire’s duties.

As from 1 January 2003 Results from Graded Match Race Event Results shall be sent to ISAF with Skippers ISAF Sailor ID's included. Skippers may register for the ISAF Sailor at www.sailing.org/isafsailor 

3. Grading of Events

Event grading will normally be based on the following criteria, but will take into account the overall event package. During the transition from the previous criteria a reasonable time shall be allowed for events to comply. Percentage calculations shall be rounded up to the nearest whole number.

3.1 Grade 5 - Open and Women

Any match racing event using boats of the same design.
When provided by the organisers each pair of boats shall be of equal performance.
The notice of race shall be based on the current ISAF standard.
The sailing instructions shall be based on the current ISAF standard.
The event shall comply with the current ISAF advertising regulations.
Matches shall be umpired.
The maximum average crew weight limit for open events is 87.5 kg.
The maximum average crew weight limit for women's events is 68 kg.

3.2 Grade 4 - Open and Women

Satisfies the criteria for a Grade 5 event and:
The boats shall have a minimum crew of three.
There shall be a minimum of eight skippers entered for the match racing.
There shall be a minimum of two days scheduled for racing.

3.3 Grade 3 - Open and Women

Satisfies the criteria for a Grade 4 event and:
The boats shall be keel boats and have a minimum 5.9 m LOA
There shall be a minimum of four boats available throughout the event, except when a boat that was available at the start of the event is subject to major breakdown or damage.

The boats shall be capable of carrying spinnakers.
The event shall be one of the following:
a) The principal national championship - only one per nation per year
b) The principal youth national championship - one per nation per year
c) An international event with a maximum of 70% of the skippers of the same nationality as the host nation.
For national championships there shall be at least one International Umpire.
For international events there shall be at least two International Umpires.

3.4 Grade 1 and Grade 2 - Open and Women

Satisfies the criteria for a Grade 3 event and meets the following requirements ( O = Open, W = Women, Pref = Preferred ) :

** For Grade 1 and 2 events the minimum number of boats should be 50% of the number of skippers.

# For Grade 1 Open and Women's events Umpires shall be appointed by ISAF. For further details please see ISAF regulation 18.12. Please e-mail umpires@isaf.co.uk for information regarding appointments.

* As ISAF ranking list 4 months before the first day of the event:

Maximum of 12 skippers to count.

The target will be 120 points for Grade 1 and 50 points for Grade 2.

3.5 Grade - WC Open and Women

Meets all the criteria for an ISAF World Championship and particularly the ISAF World Championship of Match Race Sailing.

4. Prize Money

It is desirable to optimise prize money for competitors.  Distribution of prize money should be as follows:

Appearance money is discouraged in favour of optimising prize money.