Boat Documentation

Boats must be registered with the class association to be legal. You register your boat with your local country association (NOT with the World Association), who will issue a sail number, may if the boat is new issue you with an ISAF plaque (if they don’t, you have to get one from ISAF yourself – see below) and collect any fees due.

Boats must be registered when first built, and re-registered upon change of ownership. ISAF new boat fees are only payable (and plaques issued) on a boat when it is first built, not when it is subsequently re-registered. When a boat is sold to an owner in a different country, the association in the “new” country will issue a new sail number.

The boat must be measured when first built, and re-measured if it is changed so as to affect any of the measurements taken. This again is organised through the country class associations. Measurement should be based on the 14 measurement form 30 sept 2014; after passing measurement, the boat will be issued with a measurement certificate, which should accompany the boat for its life.

If you lose your certificate, contact your country association for a replacement.

If country associations require a new stock of certificates, please contact the World Secretary.

New boats (first registered as from 1 April 2010) are now required to have World Sailing plaques – those little blue and white stickers seen on most if not all International classes – to prove the World Sailing new boat fee has been paid. THE BOAT IS ILLEGAL WITHOUT THE PLAQUE. How this is managed varies by country; countries registering many new boats may hold a stock of plaques for sale to new boats as they are registered, other countries may require owners to buy the plaque from World Sailing themselves. So if you are a boat owner, the first step is to ask your country association how they handle it.

Whether you are buying a few plaques for a country, or just one for your own boat, the process is the same:

• Complete the  for requesting plaques (isaf plaque form) and send this to the ISAF accounts department (plaques@sailing.org)
• You should be able to pay by credit card (Mastercard or Visa), or wire cash to World Sailing’s account (but do tell them you’ve sent it and why!). Their account details are: Natwest Offshore Ltd, PO Box 7, 1 Prospect Hill, Douglas, Isle of Man IM99 1AQ. Account number 71243461, UK ‘sort code’ 60 07 03, Swift reference RBOSIMDD
• World Sailing will then send the plaques(s)

The fee payable to World Sailing for the plaques is GBP47.24 for boats first registered in 2015 (it was £46.09 for 2014). If you are in a European Union country, Value Added Tax needs to be added to these amounts.