What kind of sailor are YOU?

Dobbs Davies examines the first outing of ISAF's new Competitor Classification system

Answering the Code questionaire

Filling out the questionaire on the ISAF website seems relatively straightforward until you are faced with the 'probing questions'. These kick off by asking you who your employer is and are followed by questions including whether you have been paid for going racing, whether you have been classified previously, whether you have worked in the marine business, been paid for training or a skill associated with the performance of a boat, etc etc.

To each of these questions you are asked to give additional information if your answer is in the affirmative.

Under the code a professional is defined as being someone who has been "paid for competing in a race or training, practising, tuning, testing, maintaining or otherwise preparing a boats, its crew, sails or equipment for racing and then competing on that boat, or, in a team competition, in a boat of the same team.

They are also a professional if they have been "paid $US 2,000 or more for allowing his or her name or likeness to be used in connection with his or her sailing performance, sail racing results or sailing reputation, for the advertising or promotion of any product of service (chance would be a fine thing!) or if he or she has "publicly identifed himself or herself as a Group 3 competitor or as a professional racing sailor." Attached to this is a qualification period of one year.

The qualification for being an amateur is more or less the opposite of this - racing must be a pastime and you cannot be paid for it. There is an interesting let-out clause for young sailors.

When they turn 24, if they have been involved with professional (Group 3) or semi-professional (Group 2) activities for two periods totalling 100 days or less in the Qualification period (one year up until they turn 24), he or she is defined as a Group 1 amateur.

James Boyd