Rulesmaster Racing 2012

My publisher was handed a CD-Rom at the London Boats show asking him to look into it's application abroad (specifically in the Netherlands). He send me the disk asking me to have a look. The CD-Rom contains a program designed to learn the Racing Rules 2009-2012 made by a company called RulesMaster.

I've spent the better part of this morning going trough the various presentations and quizzes. Very interesting. There's a part for beginners and a more experienced Racers Guide. Each rule is explained by a very pleasant English voice complete with 3D animations and colored subtexts. You can look up the rules by clicking on the underlined words.

After each chapter you can take a quiz to see if you've mastered the content.It gives you the relevant Cases if applicable and explains why an answer is wrong.

It covers the whole rulebook, but not the Appendices. It concentrates on rules in part 1 and 2.

Compleet with searchable database in three different forms: Table of Contents, Index and ISAF Index.

Also on the CD-Rom are a protest form and a brief summary of the changes in the 2009-2012 rules.

The complete rulebook has been integrated in the program and can be accessed in many different ways from searching words to just reading from chapter 1 trough to the definitions.

I'm impressed by the thoroughness of the whole setup. The structure is logical and the approach uses all the new possibilities of learning trough a PC-program. If you are a beginner it teaches you enough to have fun on the course without getting into trouble. And if you are more experienced it gives you the ins and outs in depth.

It lacks a specific situational approach. And it lacks sometimes a little humor; the rules can be very dry at times. But all in all a very good way to learn RRS 2009-2012.

If you want to know more: http://www.rulesmaster.com/

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