When a committee boat is in use, courses may be signalled using a blackboard or similar as follows:

Red flag: all buoys rounded to port. Green flag: all buoys rounded to starboard except in the case of Course Six (P) in which case the indicated directions of rounding are reversed. If no flag is displayed a port hand course is in use.

Course 1. Eleven leg ‘Olympic’ (no longer used at the Olympics)

Course 2. Windward/ leeward (sausage), through gate on windward legs

Course 3. Triangle, through gate on windward legs

Course 4. Trapezoid, through gate on windward legs

Course 5. Trapezoid with sausage on offset leg, through gate on main windward legs.

Course 6. P -shaped, through gate on windward leg

The term ‘windward leg’ in this context means the leg between the last mark of a lapand the first mark of the next lap, irrespective of the actual wind direction.

The term ‘gate’ means an imaginary line bounded by the committee boat at one end and a buoy at the other. It is usually the starting/finishing line.

To aid memory: Course 1 has 11 legs, Course 2 has 2 legs, Course 3 has 3 legs, Course 4 has 4 legs, Course 5 has 5 legs.

Courses may be combined to produce triangle/sausage courses, eg ‘Course 3, 2’ would indicate one lap of Course 3 (a triangle) followed by one lap of Course 2 (a sausage), continuing this combination until the Finish.