Hello fellow sailors. I noticed after the past race that many of you didn’t have a sail number on your mainsail while racing. This is very easy to do. It’s also required by the BCSA sailing instructions section 18 and the World Sailing Rules of Racing 2021-2024 section E8. I’m not trying to be a stickler for rules, but if you’ve ever been on the race committee, you know that it’s hard to identify boats without a sail number during the start. Therefore, I will explain to you what you need to do.
- Determine your hull number. This is the build number, whether your boat was the first built, hull number 1, or the fifty-third built, hull number 53.
- Find your HIN or serial number. It will probably be on the back of your boat. It maybe inside. You’ll have to search for it. It’s also on your registration paperwork. Here’s mine:
- Then write HIN down: CABT0053E585
- Go to hindecoder.com and enter your HIN.
- Here are my results:
Results:
CAB = Stroker Boats Inc (In Business)
T0053 = Boat Serial Number
E5 = Manufactured May 1985
85 = Model year 1985
This CAL 22 was boat number 53 built.
- My build number 53 should be placed on both sides of my mainsail.
- Stingysailor.com wrote a great article on how to add sail numbers to a sail.
- Don’t worry about adding any country designation.
- Here’s a few places to buy sail numbers:
Finally, If you have questions or need help installing them feel free to ask for my help.
Chris Edwards