All sailors are subject to Racing Rule 5: "A competitor shall neither take a substance nor use a method banned by the Olympic Movement Anti-Doping Code or the World Anti-Doping Agency and shall comply with ISAF Regulation 21, Anti-Doping Code. An alleged or actual breach of this rule shall be dealt with under Regulation 21. It shall not be grounds for a protest and rule 63.1 does not apply."
In-competition and out-of-competition testing can be undertaken by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) or a National Olympic Committee, at any event, at any time.
The Laser, Laser Radial and Laser 4.7 are high profile classes, and all of them are used as youth classes to prepare sailors for the Olympics. Any of our sailors could be tested.
This is an important subject. Sailors are advised to be familiar with the rules and regulations as the penalties can be severe, as we unfortunately read about in other sports. Banned substances can include medication and dietary supplements that can be purchased in supermarkets.
There is a lot of information about Anti-Doping on the ISAF website: www.sailing.org.
This includes regular bulletins on:
- The latest anti-doping news
- ISAF Anti-Doping Policy
- List of prohibited drugs
- Information on dietary supplements
- Questions and answers on the World Anti-Doping Code
- Information about medicine and drugs needed for medical conditions
Further information can be obtained from National Sailing Authorities, who can refer to ISAF if they do not have their own medical officers.