We have noted that a significant number of Notices of Race invoke IRC by simply requiring a ‘valid IRC certificate'. With an increasing number of boats now travelling around the world to regattas, this has created problems where a boat from the southern hemisphere (whose certificate remains valid in her own country until May of the following year) attends a northern hemisphere regatta in the first 5 months of a year. A similar issue can arise when a ‘north' boat travels to an event in a ‘south' country.

Organising Authorities are strongly recommended to specifically state the year when invoking IRC, eg: The IRC Rules 2009 Parts 1, 2, and 3 shall apply."

The published Notes for Race Organisers has been updated and is published on the IRC website.