To race your yacht at the Club, you, your yacht, and your crew must comply with the requirements detailed in the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions for the event. These requirements include:

Yacht registration
Club membership
Acceptance of the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS)
Compliance with the safety regulations
Submitting and entry form

Yacht registration

YNZ registration

To race, a yacht must be registered with Yachting New Zealand (YNZ) , the governing body for the sport of yachting in New Zealand.

Reqistration is a once-only registration for the boat owner – there is no ongoing fee and paperwork.

Boat registration | Yachting New Zealand

Club registration

You must register your yacht on the Club's Boat Register – for most events, only registered yachts will be eligible to win racing trophies.

Registering your boat with the Club is free.

Club membership

The skipper and crew of the yacht must be Sailing Members of the Club, or be qualifying members of another club.

The importance of membership

Without a Club there wouldn’t be a sailing programme, and without members there wouldn’t be a Club. Running the sailing programme is a cost to the Club – that is, race entry fees and sponsorship do not cover the full cost of running the support boat, purchasing and maintaining course marks and all the other things required to run racing safely and effectively. Consider also that most of our volunteers who perform race management duties, such as the race officer, race assistants, and support boat crew, are members of the Club and provide their time freely to run racing. So, if you’re sailing at RPNYC, you and your crew should be members of the Club.

Join the Club

Acceptance of the racing rules

The YNZ Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) governs the sport of yacht racing in New Zealand. The RRS are revised and published every four years.

You can download a copy of the rules from our Sailing Notice Board.

Sportsmanship and the rules

Competitors in the sport of sailing are governed by a body of rules that they are expected to follow and enforce. A fundamental principle of sportsmanship is that when a boat breaks a rule and is not exonerated, she will promptly take an appropriate penalty or action, which may be to retire.

Environmental responsibility

Participants are encouraged to minimize any adverse environmental impact of the sport of sailing.

Compliance with safety regulations

Each event run by the Club requires that boats comply with one of the Safety Categories defined in the YNZ Safety Regulations.

Inshore Races

For inshore races, which is most of our racing, RPNYC generally requires that the skipper or owner makes a written declaration that the boat meets Category 5, with some local amendments. The required category and any amendments will be stated in the Notice of Race for the event. Unless specifically mentioned in the race documents, inshore racing is Category 5.

Offshore Races

Offshore races generally require a higher category as stated in the race documents. These higher levels need to be demonstrated by providing a valid Safety Certificate issued by a YNZ authorised Safety Inspector following an inspection of the boat and its equipment prior to the first race for which the certificate is required.

You are advised to book your inspection at least two months ahead of the first race for which the certificate will be required.

The Safety Regulations can be viewed or downloaded at Safety Regulations | Yachting New Zealand

The process for Safety Category 1-3 inspections, and a list of safety inspectors, is available at Safety Inspection Process | Yachting New Zealand

Submitting an entry form

To participate in an RPNYC race the yacht must submit a valid entry and pay the relevant entry fee, if applicable, in accordance with the Notice of Race for the event.

Entry must be made prior to the event.

For RPNYC races, entry is made online – head over to our Sailing Notice Board for event documentation and to enter.

Requirements to Race Your Yacht