Sailing at the 1912 Summer Olympics

The Olympic yacht races in 1912 were entrusted by the Swedish Olympic Committee to Kungliga Svenska Segelsällskapet, or the Royal Swedish Yacht Club. In addition to the four Olympic events, a series of international yacht races were held concurrent with the Olympic events at Nynäshamm, Kanholmsfjärden, and Sandhamm.

The Olympic events were conducted at Nynäshamn from 20-22 July, and were for the best of two races. Scoring was by points, with seven points given to first place in each race, three points to second place, and one point to third place. The two main races for each class were held on 20 and 21 July, with the race-off of ties occurring on 22 July. The yachts sailed one lap of a triangular course, 15.5 nautical miles for the 6- and 8-metre classes, 30.4 nautical miles for the 10- and 12-metre classes, plus a starting and finishing leg of 2.9 nautical miles. The total lengths of the races were 21.3 nautical miles for the 6- and 8- metre classes, and 36.2 nautical miles for the 10- and 12-metre classes.

A nation could enter two yachts in each class. The gold medals were gilt-silver medals, as in nearly all team events in 1912, with two notable exceptions. The helmsmen on the winning yachts and the mate of the winning 12-metre yacht received solid gold medals. In addition to the Olympics medals, the owners of the winning yachts received commemorative plates to be placed on their yachts - gilt silver for the winning yacht, silver for second-place, and bronze for the third-place yacht.

The international events were held on 20-21 July, and resumed on 23 July and continued after the Olympic events had been decided. International racing included a general international long distance race from Nynäshamn to Sandhamn on 23 July; a general international race in Kanholmsfjärden on 25 July; and cup races and general international racing at Sandhamn on 26 July. In the international races were 111 starting yachts, among 22 different classes of Finnish and Scandanavian boats. No sailing events of any sort took place near Stockholm on 24 July.

The sailing events were dominated by the Scandanavian nations as only France and Russia entered from outside of Scandanavia. However, the classes were determined by the American rules for the measurement of yachts.