CHANGES TO RULE 46 OF THE RACING RULES OF SAILING 2021-24 COME INTO EFFECT ON JANUARY 1 2022
“From 1st January 2022, all persons on board a boat while racing shall be members of a Club affiliated to Australian Sailing and have an Australian Sailing number, or hold a valid Sail Pass….”
In keeping with this requirement, yachts racing in GFS events post 1st January 2022 are required to enter details of all Persons On Board for each race via the TopYacht Persons on Board List Facility along with each crew member’s AS#. Amongst other things this is intended to ensure that Emergency Contact details are available to GFS for all crew on boats racing in GFS events. It also means that Australian sailing top-up personal safety insurance will apply to all crew on boats participating in GFS Races.
Emergency Contact details are updated annually for GFS members renewing their memberships and will also be Compulsory fields for completion by crew when applying for a SailPass via the QR Code link on this website (see top right hand column), the QR Code Link in the Sailing Instructions or a SailPass QR Code displayed at the Clubhouse or on boats provided by Skippers.
For Crew financial at other Clubs, valid AS#s also need to be listed in the POB entry for the boat they sail on in each GFS race. If crew have AS#s but are not financial (or do not have a valid SailPass), this does not meet the RRS requirements and boats on which they are sailing may be disqualified if subject to protest.
GFS SailPass Rules
SailPass arrangements are now available for all crew new (or returning) to sailing in races conducted at GFS. The online facility allows crew to sail up to 3x times in a season (at this stage free of charge) without formally joining the Club. The dates can be nominated all at once or singly, but in either case involves a single AS# being issued the first time a SailPass entry is lodged, which must be retained and used for booking subsequent SailPass sessions. After 3x sails the system will not accept further SailPass applications by that person in a given financial year commencing 1 July. Crew who already have an AS# but are not currently financial should use their existing AS# in applying for a SailPass. (Crew with AS#s already can reconfirm them through the Australian Sailing Number Finder – https://www.sailing.org.au/member-finder/ or if members of GFS on their member page https://members.gfs.org.au/ ).
Once a crew member has completed the SailPass Application, they will receive an email confirmation that a $0 payment has been received, along with a button (link) in the email enabling download of a receipt. By Clicking that button and opening the resulting receipt the applicant can view their new AS#. They should then supply this number to their skipper for entry into the Persons on Board (POB) List via TopYacht. All other crew who are financial members of GFS, or other Clubs, who are sailing also need to provide their AS#s to skippers for the POB records.
After 3x sails using SailPass crew intending further participation must join GFS as a formal crew member by completing and lodging the Associate Membership Application Form available on the GFS Club Website, after which email instructions will be issued on how to pay a club Crew membership fee using our online credit card payment system. For these Applicants, their SailPass AS# will then be transferred to a standard GFS Crew membership.
GFS Sailing Instructions have been updated to reflect this requirement.
