Sail Racing Abbreviations

There have been a few occasions when we have looked at the results of a yacht race or a regatta and have seen an abbreviation or an acronym that has a had us wondering about its meaning, most of the time these Sail Racing Abbreviations are self explanatory, however on some occasions they can be somewhat obscure.

The table below is an effort to bring them all together. This list may be a little “AussieCentric” as that is where we live and take most interest in race results, also as the best resource we could find was the Top Yacht Scoring system that is popular with sailing clubs in Australia. There are a few acronyms in sailing and  abbreviations in sailing that appear to have the same interpretation, probably due to differing scoring regimes in different jurisdictions, they may have subtly different results.

So what do all these abbreviations  in sailing mean? The list is sortable by clicking on the column title.

Please feel free to contact us with any comments or suggestions regarding  this list.

Abreviation	Acronymn	Meaning
	AHC	Allocated Handicap. The Handicap allocated before the start of the scored race.
A	ARB	Arbitrated protest result. See also MED.
V	AVG	Average points given.
B	BFD	Disqualification Under Black Flag Start.
B (Tie Breaker)		Tie broken by one boat bettering another. (No I don't understand this either).
	BCH	Back Handicap A calculated handicap that would have resulted in all boats having the same corrected time for the scored race.
	BOW	Bow Number. A number fixed to the bow of a boat normally when there is no sail number, e..g a charter boat, normally RC allocated.
	CBCH	Clamped Back Handicap. Same as BHC but with preset limits on the amount of adjustment from the AHC. see also LBCHU, LBCHL, LBCHD
	CBH	Class based Handicap.
	CHC	Calculated Handicap The handicap that will be applicable to the next race.
	Cor'dT	Corrected Time. Elapsed time after application of handicap.
M	DGM	Disqualified under rule 69.1. (Gross Misconduct). See also DNE DSQ.
	DidNot	Reason for a boat receiving a score greater than the number of finishers e.g. DNF, DSQ, etc.
[x}		Race has been dropped, discarded, exclude from Series score calculation.
	Div Div No	Division. Division Description of or the number of the Division the subject boat is competing in.
C	DNC	Did Not Compete. See also DNS. Entered for the race but did not show up to the start area.
D	DNE	Disqualification (other than DGM). Not Excludable under rule 90.3. See also DSQ DGM
F	DNF	Did not finish. See also RET. Not too sure of the differences however in motor racing a competitor is scored RET while the race is still in progress and DNF after the event is finished.
S	DNS	Did not start. Was at the starting area but did not start. See also DNC.
S (Tie Breaker)		Tie broken by one boat having more of a particular score. E.g firsts.
I	DPI	Discretionary penalty.
Q	DSQ	Disqualified. See also DNE DGM.
W	DUT	Duty Crew. Points awarded to a boat that was unable to compete due to their duty crew responsibilities.
	Elapsd	Elapsed time. Boats time from start to finish.
N	ENP	Event Specific penalty. As defined in the Sailing Instructions.
E	ESP	Disqualified but not excluded.
	ET Elapsd	Elapsed Time. Elapsed Time. Start time subtracted from Finish time.
	ETO ETord	Elapsed Time Order. Elapsed Time Order. The order of finishing based on elapsed time.
X	EXC	Race results excluded. The results of a particular race are exclude for all boats.
	Fin Tim	Finish Time. Finish time at time of day. as opposed to elapsed time.
	ISAF	International Sailing Federation (Now known as "World Sailing")
L		Late Entrant. Boat joined series after first race.
	LBCHD LBCHL LBCHU	Limited Back Handicap Discard. Limited Back Handicap Lower. Limited Back Handicap Upper. Same as CBCH but with preset limits on the amount of Upper or Lower adjustment or when the result will be discarded.
A	MED	Mediated protest result. See also ARB.
#		No Date. Data is missing (or questionable) from the results system.
	NOR	Notice of Race
O	OCS	On Course Side or On Course at Start. Over the line at the start.
	PHRF	Performance Handicap Racing Fleet. Based on the previous performances of all boats of a particular class, design or Model.
	PHS	Performance Handicap System. Based on the boat's previous performances.
P		Protest pending.
	PP	Protest Panel
	PRO	Principal Race Officer.
R	RAF	Retired After Finishing.
R (Tie Breaker)		Tie broken by one boat having a better score in a later race.
	RC	Race Committee
G	RDG	Redress given. Points awarded to a boat that due to exceptional circumstances achieved a result worse than the points given. E.G. provided assistance to another boat in difficulty.
R	RET	Retired. See also DNF. Not too sure of the differences however in Motor racing a competitor is scored RET while the race is still in progress and DNF after the event is finished.
	RRS	Racing Rules of Sailing Or to those that like to remember before electronic publishing; The Blue Book (In Australia)
Y	SCP	Scoring penalty taken Rule 44.3.
	SI SIS	Sailing Instructions. Sailing Instructions.
T	TLE	Time Limit Exceeded. Finished outside of the time limit applicable to that race. See also TLP.
	TLP	Time Limit Penalty See also TLE
	UFD	Disqualified under U flag start. See also UFP
U	UFP	Disqualified under U flag start. See also UFD
Z	ZFP	Disqualification under Z flag start.

G-whizz Elan 340