Class rules written using the WS SCR format ensure that as far as possible the language used and the certification (measurement) methods employed by the class rules are harmonised across the classes. Designers, builders, sail makers and measurers can then be confident of having a common understanding of class rules. This makes it easier for manufacturers of equipment to create products that are less likely to be found to be non-compliant by measurers.

Commonly used words like ‘boat’, ‘hull’, ‘hull appendage’ and a vast number of other similar boat part names, when printed in bold text as here, are all very precisely defined in the Equipment Rules of Sailing (ERS). The ERS is a stand-alone document available as a download from the WS and IRSA websites.