Boat number fonts (other than for boat registration stickers) are up to the regatta and the sailboat class. Melges 24, for instance, uses a version of a specific typeface/font with a specific angle that matches with their brand in a specific vinyl color that also matches their brand.
We tend to choose narrow fonts like Bebas and Impact for bow numbers, especially those that go on integrated sponsor stickers, in part, because the cost is related to the sticker real estate – the bigger the sticker, the larger the cost. And printed stickers are not inexpensive options. For cut vinyl, we have a much less costly material and we can use other fonts. Frutiger is another one that clients like, and has a rounder appearance on digits like 0 and 8.
Even cheaper are the Digital 8s like Laser sails use, where each number is cut from the number 8. We just run the digital 8s and you customize for your regatta!
Aesthetics (as the kids like to say today) is everything for some clients, and not a factor for others, so if you have a font you like, we can match it – and we can give advice on bow number colors, too (believe it or not, black is not always required! We’ve had clients, like the J111 worlds, that matched their J111 logo ( a deep storm blue) with, well, Storm Blue and because we had some left over, it’s now one of our most popular colors now over on boatregistrationstickers.com, our sister business for state registration stickers.
The MOST important factor is readability across a long distance and high contrast. Race committees simply cannot see your sail numbers and they need the bow numbers to tell if you’re OCS or not. You don’t want to be called OCS because the RC mistook your bow for your neighbor’s bow.