Race Officer Qualification Requirements

Race Officials

RYA qualifications for race officers are Regional Race Officer and National Race Officer. The International Race Officer qualification is awarded by World Sailing.

All RYA qualifications (NRO and RRO) are held for four years, after which time an application for renewal must be made. Applicants must be:

members of the RYA
age 18 or over for both National and Regional qualification
an experienced racing sailor
an email user with internet access
UK passport holder (or have principal residence in the UK).

The table below provides a summary of the Race Officer qualification requirements. For all qualification requirements in more detail, please view our competency document.

Requirement	Regional Race Officer		National Race Officer
	*Initial*	*Renewal*	*Initial*	*Renewal*
Course	RRO	Or conference	NRO	Or conference
Examination	RRO Exam (min 70%)	Or conference	NRO Exam (min 70%)	Or conference
Experience	4 events* as RO, CRO, STRT or RSRO		4 major events* as RO, CRO, STRT or RSRO
	3 events* as RO, CRO, STRT or RSRO & One National-Level or WS Principal event as RMT		3 major events* as RO, CRO, STRT or RSRO & 2 National-Level** events as DRO or Start or Finish ARO
	2 events* as RO, CRO, STRT or RSRO & 2 National-Level** or WS Principal events as DRO or Start or Finish ARO		3 major events* as RO, CRO, STRT or RSRO & One WS Principal event as DRO
	Active role in the RMT of other events	Not required	Active role in the RMT of other events	Not required
			DRO or above in at least: 2 events on the sea; 2 areas of water (Solent counts as one)
			Worked on either Signal Vessel, Start Pin Vessel or Finish Vessel under at least 2 senior race officers (NRO or IRO)
			Worked in at least 2 disciplines
			Worked with at least 2 course configurations
References	One	Not required	2	Not required
VHF Certificate	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Powerboat Qualification	Not required	Not required	PB2	PB2
Conference	Not required	Or course	Not required	Or course
Race Officials Safeguarding Course ***	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

*see 6.5 b)

** A National-Level event is either a National Championship or a National Series event of a class and run by an NRO or an IRO

***see 3.2 h)

References must be from the events given on the application form.

Candidates for the National qualification are also required to show additional experience such as an ability to work with a variety of course configurations, in waters outside of their home area and with several senior race officers. A 'major event' is deliberately not defined as there are many factors to be taken into consideration when assessing this.

The Race Officer application form and reference form can be found here.