Team racing

Team racing, also known as teams racing, is a popular form of dinghy racing and yacht racing. Two teams consisting of 2, 3, or 4 boats compete together in a race, all the boats being of the one class and reasonably evenly matched. The results of each team are combined to decide the winner – as opposed to fleet racing where boats are scored on an individual basis, or an inter-club fleet race where boats from three or more clubs compete and the finishing points of boats from a club are added up to give the club's overall position. The low points scoring system is used in team racing: a boat that finishes 1st earns 1 point, a boat that finishes 2nd earns 2 points, and so on – with the winning team decided by adding together the points of all the boats in each team. The team with the fewest points wins, with additional rules applied to decide ties in the 2-boat and 4-boat formats.

Team races are usually sailed over very short (6 to 10 minute) courses in the form of a starboard (right) hand 'box' course (beat from start/finish, short reach, run, short reach, beat to start/finish) if only two teams are competing (so start and finish can be combined), otherwise the course is in the shape of a (digital) 'S' on its side (beat from start – mark to starboard, short reach (starboard), run (port), short reach (port), beat to finish). The course format puts a premium on team racing tactics – rather than the outcome being decided by pure boat speed. On-the-water umpiring is now the norm, (since about 1985) with boats having the option to do one penalty turn after an infringement - or two penalty turns if they sail on and are penalised by an umpire. An excellent brief exposition of team racing and the skills it requires is available in a spiral-bound publication entitled 'Team Racing Companion'. It and other relevant publications are listed in the further reading section at the end of this page.

Inter-club fleet racing and team racing of a kind has existed as long as yacht racing itself, but the earliest recorded regular 'modern' team racing event, with just two teams of two, three, or four boats battling it out over several races, is the Oxford-Cambridge Varsity Match. The match was first sailed as a two-a-side team race in 1913 and again in 1914 (1913 at Oxford - they won, 1914 at Ely - Cambridge won). The first sailing contest between the two Universities actually took place in 1912 - as three match races at Ely (Cambridge won 2-1). After World War I team racing recommenced (two boats a side) in 1920 on the neutral waters of Oulton Broad in Norfolk, when Oxford won, and has continued annually at locations around the UK - usually on the coast and three boats a side since the mid 1930s. In addition, an annual team racing contest (two boats a side) between the constituent colleges of Cambridge has been held since 1924, and a similar competition has been held at Oxford since 1926. The first recorded international team racing event was the British-American Cup series in Six-Metres (4 boats a side), which was first sailed in 1921 at Cowes, as a result of a UK challenge, with the UK winning 4-3. The series was hotly contested every two years, particularly pre-World War II, but ceased in 1955 (when the US won 4-0 yet again) as costs escalated and interest in the class declined due to its loss of Olympic status in 1952.

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