The Racing Rules of Sailing

Old Case Books

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John Allan
Nationality: Australia
Certifications:
  • National Race Officer
  • National Judge
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As people may be aware, I have a little library of historical rule books.

Does anyone have a spare copy of the pre 1995 Case Book, the two volume, spiral bound 'bricks', that they could let me have?
Created: 25-Jul-26 18:16

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Andrew Alberti
Nationality: Canada
Certifications:
  • International Judge
  • National Umpire
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Hi John,
I have a copy of the 1993-1996 Casebook.  My copy was in a binder, not coil bound.  A scanned copy is on my website https://www.yachtracingrules.ca/appeal-and-casebooks    If you browse around that site you can see that I am also interested in old rulebooks and casebooks, thus I am not willing to part with the original.  If you have any earlier versions scanned, I can add them to the site.  
Created: 25-Jul-27 01:32
P
John Allan
Nationality: Australia
Certifications:
  • National Race Officer
  • National Judge
227.9K
Andrew,  Thank you very much.  PDF is better than paper as far as I'm concerned.

I've now got some new 'pillow case' reading to do.

The only historical scan that I've got is the 1944 Vanderbilt Rules, which is attached.

I could also do a scan of the 1947 IYRU/RYA rules pamphlet I have if you would like that?

VanderbiltPamphlet.pdf 24.7 MB
Created: 25-Jul-27 02:26
P
John Allan
Nationality: Australia
Certifications:
  • National Race Officer
  • National Judge
227.9K
Thanks to Andrew's copy of the 1995 Case Book, I've updated my Cross References between Pre and Post 1995 Cases for the historically minded.

Cross References between Pre and Post 1995 Case Books.docx 25.7 KB
Created: 25-Jul-27 05:17
Jim Champ
Nationality: United Kingdom
55.6K
If you're interested in rules prehistory you might like this. 

https://intcanoe.org/sharedimages/documents/ichistory-rcc1910rulebookextracts.pdf
Created: 25-Jul-27 11:31
P
John Allan
Nationality: Australia
Certifications:
  • National Race Officer
  • National Judge
227.9K
JIm,  My feeling is that sometimes it's worth while going back to the pre 1961 NAYRU and IYRU/RYA rules and looking at the 1961 merge, but, particularly given the stability of the RYA/IYRU rules, it's not worth while going much further back.

Do you think the Canoe rules have had much significant influence on the ordinary rules?
Created: 25-Jul-27 21:37
Jim Champ
Nationality: United Kingdom
55.6K
Reply to: 18156 - John Allan
I don't know to be honest. Canoe racing (which started off with sailing rather than paddling) predates dinghy racing, but post dates the very earliest yacht racing. When one looks at those rules it's evident that one is seeing the ancestors of much of the current rule set. However my guess - I haven't gathered evidence - is that it probably only means that there was something of a consensus between different clubs in the sports as to what racing rules should look like, and there was copying and cross fertilisation going on. But 1910 is as early as I found in RCC archives, and by that date the sport was already decades old. 
Created: 25-Jul-27 23:35
Paul Murray
Certifications:
  • Regional Judge
3.3K
John, I don’t have anything that old.  I do have copies of 21-24, 17-20 and 13-16 in pdf form and would be happy to send them to you, but nothing as old as you asked for. 

Created: 25-Jul-29 16:15
P
John Allan
Nationality: Australia
Certifications:
  • National Race Officer
  • National Judge
227.9K
Reply to: 18176 - Paul Murray
Thank you Paul,

I have straight runs of RRS Digital from 2025 back to 1993, and in Paper from 2017 back to 1961.

I've got various versions of RRS for 1953, 1952, 1947, 1949, 1944, and 1927.

I've got Case Books Digital from 2021 back to 2005 and Andrew's 1996 Version plus the Case Extracts in the Elvstrom Books, and Old Cases1 to 62 from 1972.

Anyone want me to look something up, or a digital copy, just ask.

And another big plug for Andrew's site.  That's really a great looking resource.
Created: 25-Jul-30 00:04
Paul Murray
Nationality: United States
Certifications:
  • National Judge
2.3K
John, another quick question for you, unrelated, are you possible from Kirkwood Missouri, USA? I have a classmate that moved to the Melbourne area a few decades ago.   Every time I see your name on a post I wonder if you are that person..
Created: 25-Jul-30 22:16
P
John Allan
Nationality: Australia
Certifications:
  • National Race Officer
  • National Judge
227.9K
Reply to: 18193 - Paul Murray
Hi Paul,

Not me.  I'm Sydney, Australia born and bred, although I sailed in Melbourne for about 10 years.
Created: 25-Jul-30 22:47
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