Know your facts:

• Sailing has been a sport at Special Olympics World Games since 1995
• Unified Sports? Yes
• Estimated number of athletes participating: 32 athletes & 25 Unified partners

The goal of the sailing competitions is to sail a boat as fast as possible around markers on a certain course. Each sailing team consists of two or three members, depending on the level of performance.

Special Olympics feature:

The Special Olympics Sport Rules for sailing are based on the "Racing Rules of Sailing" by World Sailing. The score of each team in its level is based on the total number of race results without the worst result after four races. The winning team will receive one point, the second-placed team two points and so on. The overall winner is the team with the lowest total number of points at the end of all races sailed.

We have sailing competitions in 3 levels of performance:

1. The athletes are responsible for the trim of the head sail.
2. The athletes are responsible for the control of the helm during the entire race.
3. The athletes sail with a Unified partner on board. However, they have complete control of the boat.

 
By the way:

Sailing around the world in a westerly direction is more difficult than in an easterly direction.