Handicapping

ECHO Standards and IRC Rating Certificates in Ireland are issued by Irish Sailing. Irish Sailing is the IRC Rule Authority in Ireland. Irish Sailing and Irish Cruiser Racing Association strongly recommend that all cruiser races be dual scored under ECHO and IRC rating and handicap systems. The purpose of this policy is to encourage participation by all cruiser boats in cruiser racing.

Current Ratings here

ECHO, as the national performance handicap system, is mandatory for all boats wishing to take part in cruiser racing.

Follow these steps ...

1. ✔ LOGIN to MyIrishSailing and then click MyIrishSailing/Myboats.

2. ✔ IRC / ECHO shop window to pay online for new or revalidating ECHO or IRC

3. ✔ Forms & Documents HERE skip down the page for all you need

NOTE: COPY certificates can be ordered on-line or email racing@sailing.ie

OVERVIEW

• ECHO & IRC Rating Certificate is issued annually and is valid until the 31st of December. Any change to the ownership or measured data of a boat will invalidate the certificate.
• An ECHO & IRC Revalidation Form for the new season is sent to each boat owner holding an ECHO and/or IRC Certificate(s) in the previous year, along with an IRC Yearbook, by post in the first week of January.

DELIVERY

• The delivery time for IRC Certificates can take up to 20 working days days from receipt here of all required details. If we do not have all the data required we cannot start the process until you or your measurer supplies it.
• Applications for IRC Certificates requiring guaranteed 5 working days processing may incur an Expedited Fee (fee x 2). Please include “EPF” or “Expedited” in the subject line of your E-mail.

ENDORSEMENT

• Many regattas require boats to hold an endorsed IRC. This means that the data on her certificate has been recorded by an approved IRC Measurer.
• The recorded data is subject to very rigid standards and owners are advised to check with us or an IRC Measurer before making changes to their boats.

Approved IRC Measurers

Many regattas require boats to hold an endorsed IRC. This means that the data on her certificate has been recorded by an approved IRC Measurer. The recorded data is subject to very rigid standards and owners are advised to check with us or an IRC Measurer before making changes to their boats. You can find a full list in our Measurers section. 

Measurers

In-House Certification

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Changes to the World Sailing Offshore Special Regulations (OSR) coming into effect on January 1 2022, will mean an additional requirement for yachts taking part in races of  Category 0 to Category 3.  

The most significant change is the requirement for an out-of-the water structural inspection by a qualified person to ensure the soundness of the keel and its connection to the hull.  This follows a series of keel failures with, in some cases, loss of life.  The inspection will involve checking the keel bolts and the internal arrangement as well as examining the external joins for stressing and cracking.  Evidence of the inspection must be available to the race organisers.

The full text of the OSR can be found HERE.

 For further queries, please contact racing@sailing.ie

ECHO is a performance based handicapping system and as such can be very simply summed up as a system that ranks boats in any fleet from fastest to slowest [or vice versa] and handicaps them accordingly. A boat with a higher average speed should always have a higher handicap than a boat with a lower average speed, or, which is the same thing, a boat should not have a lower handicap than a boat that regularly finishes behind it – on the water. This principle is explained in greater detail in the document here.  It answers the basic questions about the nature of ECHO and also explains the difference in approach between ECHO and IRC. The excel file is for those who want to examine the ECHO calculations in more detail here.

All forms and downloads are available in our LIBRARY HERE.