ILCA members have approved a full update of the ILCA Class Rules, completing the class’s transition to the World Sailing Standard Class Rules format. The new rules take effect on 10 August 2026.
Voting closed on 24 July – the submission passed the two-thirds majority of members casting a valid vote (required under Rule 31 and the ILCA Constitution/By-laws), and has since been approved by the World Council and World Sailing.
The move to the Standard Class Rules (SCR) format has been a long time coming – World Sailing requires all Olympic classes to adopt the SCR framework so that class rules align with the Racing Rules of Sailing and the Equipment Rules of Sailing in structure, terminology and governance. This ensures consistency between all ILCA and WS run events and helps standardise our rules within our wider sporting rules.
This format change, and importantly the adoption of standardised World Sailing conventions, has meant some legacy governance items that resided within the Class Rules (such as the old rule 31) are now not part of the document. The ILCA World Council has approved the necessary By-Law updates to reflect the continued commitment to these long standing processes and these will be published shortly.
The majority of the changes are visual and clerical – restructuring, renumbering and reformatting to fit the SCR template, with no significant change to the substance of the rules.
A smaller number address legacy provisions that had been carried forward without revision, or rules whose interpretation had proved unclear in practice.
The full schedule of changes, with cross-references between the old and new numbering, is published alongside the rules.
The new rules also complete the approval of the ILCA 4 MkII sail, which is now fully class legal for use in all events under the Class Rules.
The rules and the change schedule are available at ilcasailing.org/ilca-class-rules.
Rules only work if they work on the water for the members and officials. With the new Rules in operation, ILCA welcomes feedback from members, measurers and race officials on anything that may need review. Comments can be sent to chiefmeasurer@ilcasailing.org or technical@ilcasailing.org
The ILCA Team