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 |
|---|---|---|
| # | No Date. Data is missing (or questionable) from the results system. |
|
| [x] [xy] [x.y] [x.y] Score in brackets [ ] { } ( ) | Discarded Race score not included in series results. e.g. race dropped as per SIs |
|
| B (Tie Breaker) | Tie broken by one boat bettering another. (No I don't understand this either). |
|
| L | Late Entrant. Boat joined series after first race. |
|
| P | Protest pending. | |
| R (Tie Breaker) | Tie broken by one boat having a better score in a later race. | |
| S (Tie Breaker) | Tie broken by one boat having more of a particular score. E.g firsts. | |
| T (Tie Breaker) | Tie broken by one boat having more of a particular score. E.g firsts. | |
| 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. |
| BCE | Back Calculated Elapsed time The time a boat needed to sail faster in their elapsed time to be as fast as the winning boat. |
|
| BCH | Back Handicap A calculated handicap that would have resulted in all boats having the same corrected time for the scored race. |
|
| BCR | Back Calculated Rating The yardstick a boat would have needed to be as fast as the winning boat. |
|
| B | BFD | Disqualification Under Black Flag Start. |
| 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. |
|
| BSF | Time on Distance Handicap process. (e.g. anticipated seconds a boat takes to travel one Nautical Mile). |
|
| 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. |
|
| CL | Class Class or Division the boat is competing in. |
|
| 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. | |
| Div Div No | Division. Division Description of or the number of the Division the 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. |
| 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. |
|
| Fleet | Fleet Subject boat's situation overall (in the Fleet), irrespective of Class/Division. |
|
| IMS | International Measurement System | |
| IOR | International Offshore Rule | |
| IRC | International Racing Conference. A measurement based handicap rating system. | |
| ISAF | International Sailing Federation (Now known as "World Sailing") |
|
| 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. |
| NHC | National Handicap for Cruisers Based on the boat's previous performances. |
|
| NOR | Notice of Race | |
| O | OCS | On Course Side or On Course at Start. Over the line at the start. |
| OD | One Design | |
| ORC | Off Shore Racing Conference. A measurement based handicap rating system. | |
| ORCc | Off Shore Racing Conference - Club A measurement based handicap rating system. Based on honesty self measurement. |
|
| OV | Overall Subject boat's situation overall, irrespective of Class/Division. |
|
| PBH | Performance Based Handicap Based on the boat's previous performances. |
|
| PHRF | Performance Handicap Racing Fleet. Handicap system 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. |
|
| PP | Protest Panel | |
| PRO | Principal Race Officer. | |
| PY | Portsmouth Yardstick A empirical handicap system first developed in (believe it or not) Portsmouth. |
|
| R | RAF | Retired After Finishing. |
| 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 SIs | Sailing Instructions. Sailing Instructions. |
|
| TCC | Time on Time Handicap | |
| TCF | Time Correction Factor Handicap value to determine corrected time. |
|
| 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 |
|
| TOD | Time on Distance Handicap process. (e.g. anticipated seconds a boat takes to travel one Nautical Mile). |
|
| TOT | Time on Time Handicap | |
| UFD | Disqualified under U flag start. See also UFP |
|
| U | UFP | Disqualified under U flag start. See also UFD |
| Vis | Visitor Possibly does not collect or affect other competitors points. |
|
| YS | Yardstick An allocated Handicap |
|
| Z | ZFP | Disqualification under Z flag start. |
G-whizz Elan 340
