The language of sailing and Yachting both verbal and written is riddled with Abbreviations and Acronyms. We found ourselves regularly researching just what these meant, that was the motivation to create these lists.
Sail/Yacht Race Abbreviations and Acronyms⟶
Sail/Yacht Measurement Abbreviations⟶
National Sailing Federation Acronyms⟶
Consolidated list of above three lists⟶
These abbreviations and acronyms appear in racing documentations, rating measurements, boat and equipment literature, publications and even in chit chat around the yacht club bar.
These are links to lists relating to the abbreviations and acronyms of some of the specific aspects sailing and yachting:
| Sail/YachtRacing | Sail/YachtMeasurement | NationalFederations |
| Acronyms and abbreviations that may appear in racing literature; Sailing Instructions, Notices of Race, Results etc. | Abbreviations used to define specific measurements on a sail boat; rig dimensions, sail dimensions etc. used extensively by handicapping organisations eg. ORC and IRC. | Sailing is administered in most countries by that country's peak sailing body or its national sailing Federation these are their acronyms. |
 |  |  |
Consolidated List of Abbreviations/Acronyms
Further information about these abbreviations and acronyms can be found at various rating and authority sites eg. ORC, IRC, World Sailing or Top Yacht.
This list may be a little “AussieCentric” as that is where we live and take most interest in race results. There are a few different acronyms in sailing and different abbreviations in sailing that appear to have the same meaning, there are also a few sailing abbreviations and acronyms that have differing meanings, this is probably due to differing scoring regimes in different jurisdictions, they may have subtly different meanings.
Many of these Abbreviations or Acronyms are self explanatory, however on some occasions they can be somewhat (actually quite) obscure, leading us to wonder just what does ??? mean in sailing, It almost appears that at times the PRO (Look it up) puts abbreviations or acronyms into their publications in an attempt to show their audience that they know more about the subject than the reader. At other times and quite sensibly these abbreviations and anagrams are just a way of saving space in a results table and/or publication time.
These lists came about from those occasions when we looked sail or yachting literature and have seen an abbreviation or an acronym and wondered what those abbreviations meant, we would google “what does ??? mean in sailing”, the results of which were sometimes a bit obscure others easier, these lists started from there, we hope it is of some value to you.