The rules say: (IRSA Supplementary Class Rules - https://radiosailing.org/download/irsa-supplementary-class-rules-2020-4/
C.11 IDENTIFICATION ON SAILS
C.11.1 A boat shall display: (a) her class insignia and (b) a sail number on all sails and (c) national letters on her mainsail as required by C.12.1.
C.11.2 National letters and sail numbers shall be in capital letters and Arabic numerals, clearly legible and of the same colour. The colour shall contrast with the colour of the body of sail. Commercially available typefaces giving the same or better legibility than Helvetica are acceptable. Digital fonts are not acceptable.
I know it's easy to criticise and I'm more aware than most how hard it is to write good rules but the above are a beautiful example of how not to do it. Firstly Google Arabic numerals and see what you get! Secondly, "typefaces giving the same or better legibility than Helvetica ..." is entirely subjective; and thirdly what on earth is a " digital font" in this context?
I recently acquired a vinyl cutter and was trying to find out which variation of the figure four I should use. The Racing Rules of Sailing (G1.2 a (4)) say " a sans serif typeface" so I'm none the wiser.
By
John949 ·
