Protest Room logoProtest Room
RulesCasesAsk AI
Auth not available
  • Rules Explorer
  • Case Book
  • AI Judge
New protest
  1. Home/
  2. Rules/
  3. Rule c5

Part appendices

Section C — Match Racing Rules

Match races shall be sailed under The Racing Rules of Sailing as changed by this appendix. Matches shall be umpired unless the notice of race or sailing instructions state otherwise.

Note: A Standard Notice of Race, Standard Sailing Instructions, and Match Racing Rules for Visually Impaired Sailors are available on the World Sailing website.

C5

SIGNALS BY UMPIRES

C5.1:

A green and white flag with one long sound means ‘No penalty.’

C5.2:

A blue or yellow flag identifying a boat with one long sound means ‘The identified boat shall take a penalty by complying with rule C7.’

C5.3:

A red flag with or soon after a blue or yellow flag with one long sound means ‘The identified boat shall take a penalty by complying with rule C7.3(d).’

C5.4:

A black flag with a blue or yellow flag and one long sound means ‘The identified boat is disqualified or has retired, and the match is terminated and awarded to the other boat.’

C5.5:

One short sound means ‘A penalty is now completed.’

C5.6:

Repetitive short sounds mean ‘A boat is no longer taking a penalty and the penalty remains.’

C5.7:

A blue or yellow flag or shape displayed from an umpire boat means ‘The identified boat has an outstanding penalty.’

Definitions in Context

Boat

A sailboat and the crew on board, that are subject to the rules.

Rule

The complete written rules contained in this document, which includes all racing rules including those established by the International Sailing Federation and other governing authorities.

Rule C4

At a boat’s preparatory signal, her hull shall be completely outside the line that is at a 90º angle to the starting line through the starting mark at her assig...

Rule C6

- (a) under a rule of Part 2, except rule 14 , by clearly displaying flag Y immediately after an incident in which she was involved; - (b) under any rule not pr...

© 2026 Protest Room. Open source and available under MIT License