History

North American Yacht Racing Union (NAYRU)

US SAILING was originally organized as the North American Yacht Racing Union (NAYRU) on October 30, 1897. The founding members were the Inter-Lake Yachting Association, New York Racing Association, Pacific Inter-Club Yacht Association, Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound, Yacht Racing Association in Massachusetts, and the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club.

The organization's original purpose was to encourage and promote yacht racing and to unify the racing and rating rules in the United States and Canada and throughout the yachting world. In 1898, NAYRU asked Aemilius Jarvis of Toronto and Joseph M. MacDonough of San Francisco to confer with the Yacht Racing Association of the U.K. "upon the measurement rule question and other subjects of interest to yachtsmen." When their efforts were not successful, NAYRU apparently became dormant until Clifford D. Mallory revived it in 1925.

According to the original constitution, NAYRU's authority stemmed from consent of its members and member associations over which it exercised jurisdiction in an advisory capacity. Today, its authority comes instead from an act of Congress (the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act of 1978) and a much broader charter to serve America's sailors directly.

In 1927, President Mallory and Clinton H. Crane (later President 1942-1949) attended a conference held by the International Yacht Racing Union (IYRU, now known as the International Sailing Federation - ISAF). The purpose was to consider changes in the IYRU measurement rule known as the International Rule, which was beginning to replace the Universal Rule. Two years later NAYRU sent delegates to another IYRU conference, at which a uniform code of right-of-way rules for racing was agreed upon. Those racing rules prevailed until 1948, when NAYRU adopted a new code conceived by Harold S. Vanderbilt.

NAYRU soon developed long and continuous associations with the IYRU and the Offshore Racing Council, which have included initiating unified racing rules in 1960 and simplified racing rules for 1997, creating offshore rating rules such as the IOR and IMS, and developing strong one-design class organizations.

NAYRU inaugurated the Junior Sailing Championship for the Sears Cup in 1931. Today, US SAILING administers 17 National Championships for juniors, adult men and women, and sailors with disabilities, in various forms of fleet racing, match racing, and team racing.

Canada, which was originally part of NAYRU, had formed its own Canadian Yachting Association (CYA) in 1931. By 1974, it had become apparent that American Sailors were in need of their own national sports federation. That need was also dramatically highlighted by the reorganization of the U.S. Olympic Committee at the end of that year.

United States Yacht Racing Union (USYRU)

After conferring with officials of the CYA, NAYRU unanimously resolved at its January 1975 Annual Meeting that it would change its name to the United States Yacht Racing Union, and would restructure to better fulfill its new role as the National Governing Body for sailing in the United States. This work was completed at the January 1976 annual meeting with adoption of a revised set of bylaws.

Although the USYRU was already an "umbrella" organization dealing with governance throughout the sport, with the appointment came the support of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).

Additionally, the Amateur Sports Act required Olympic sports to govern and provide an infrastructure to support the sport for the future.  The efforts of the USYRU to invigorate and improve the quality of sailing include:

Training
In the early 1980s, USYRU created a program to train young sailors through a network of certified instructors.  In 1988, the Training Committee developed an introductory handbook, Start Sailing Right!, which became the standard for teaching beginning sailing.  Other sail training publications followed. By 1997, the organization's training materials had become the national standard for "learn to sail" and "learn to race" teaching and student curricula.

In 1993, representatives of a number of commercial sailing schools requested that a comprehensive instruction program for adults who desire to learn to sail in keelboats be developed.  The US SAILING Keelboat Certification System, directed at several levels of education (learn-to-sail, basic and bareboat cruising, coastal navigation, and passage making), was created.

Race Administration
In the mid-1970s, USYRU recognized the need to improve the quality, consistency, and fairness of decisions by protest committees that interpreted the racing rules at a local level.  In 1977, USYRU created a program to certify judges.

With the advent of on-the-water umpiring, created in 1987 and introduced nationally in 1988, the Judges Committee expanded its role to include certification of umpires.

Following the model developed for judges, USYRU instituted a national recognition program for experienced race officers in 1982.

In the early 1980s the Race Management Committee created the Race Management Handbook to assist local race officers in the procedures for conducting races.  It has since become the definitive treatise in the management of sailboat races in the United States.

United States Sailing Association (US SAILING)

At the October 1991 Annual Meeting, USYRU voted to change its name to the United States Sailing Association, Inc. and to do business as US SAILING. The new name more adequately described the broader activity of the organization and clarified the administration's intention to fulfill every aspect of the responsibilities of a National Governing Body under the auspices of the Amateur Sports Act.

In recent years, US SAILING has created and maintained the definitive national standards for sailing instruction and continues to develop highly successful training programs for young and adult sailors. The organization has embraced and supported the rapidly expanding public access programs known as Community Sailing, continues to create high-quality instructional and reference materials for race officials, and field successful Olympic and Pan American Games teams.