RYA Dinghy Show - Two new Racing Rules ebooks launched by RYA

by Emma Slater on 5 Mar 2013 On Saturday 2nd March, the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) unveiled the latest editions to its eBook catalogue; Rules and Cases 2013-16 and the Handy Guide to Racing Rules.

The Rules and Cases eBook is a revolutionary tool that brings together the rules and cases of sail racing in one location for the first time without having to carry around loads of different books and case files.

Mike Short, designer of the new eBook explained how this great new tool will help individuals present their case in the protest room as well as providing judges with access to the relevant case information at the click of a button.

'It started off as a hobby really, but moving to an electronic format was a natural evolution from my point of view', explained Mike.

Within the eBook readers will find a Rules Index and a Cases Index. The Rules Index contains details of the rules that affect all competitors, appendices providing details or rules and rules that apply to particular kinds of racing and rules that affect only a small number of competitors or officials, alongside key definitions and basic principles. In the Cases Index users will find a detailed database of cases that can accessed by year or case number, as well as a text search facility to assist the reader in finding the information they need.

The eBook was first piloted for use by the Olympic and Paralympic sailors of 2012 and so far has been well received within the sailing community.

'This kind of technology will raise the game on both sides; sailors and judges, making everyone better prepared', Mike concluded.



As well as the new Rules and Cases eBook the RYA unveiled the new Handy Guide to the Racing Rules eBook.

The Handy Guide eBook takes the principles from the hard copy version, which has been available for several years and has proved extremely popular with beginners and youngsters, and adding video animation and commentary to bring the rules to life and make it easy for readers to really get to grips with the essential rules of racing.

Chris Watts, RYA Race Officials Education Officer and the voice of the new Handy Guide eBook explained more about the book. 'Turning the handy guide in to an eBook means we can bring a bit of action to the text and help explain the complexities of the rules and an easy to follow fashion.

'It’s a great way of very quickly checking something and a good aide memoire to refresh the memory when you need it'.



Both the Rules and Cases and Handy Guide to the Racing Rules eBooks are available to download via the RYA Books app from both the App Store and Google Play. A free taster of each eBook is available so you can test out the functionality of the book before you buy.

To find out more visit www.rya.org.uk/shop