A FAIR FIGHT?
Can the
Portsmouth
Yardstick work as
more of a guideline
than a rule?
PAULA IRISH takes
a look inside the
system to see
how handicap
racing is aiming to
move forwards
T
he UK has the most diverse
and vibrant dinghy racing
scene in the world. The
flip side is that with such
great variety comes a
need for a robust handicap system.
The Portsmouth Yardstick has been
the basis for this since 1947, when it
was invented by Stanley Milledge at
Langstone Sailing Club, and it has been
administered by the RYA since 1960.
For decades clubs have simply taken
the numbers as gospel each year and
pinned them up on their noticeboard.
With modern technology and data
collection, however, times are changing.
Last year was the final year for
submitting a traditional annual return,
with just five sailing clubs submitting
their PY data via an Excel spreadsheet
in 2017. Most have already switched to
using the RYA’s pyonline.org.uk website.
Clubs upload their handicap racing
results direct from Sailwave or HAL
software after each race, weekend
or series. This is helping to generate
more data than ever before to make
the national average PY numbers
more scientific and dynamic, and
enables experimental numbers andnew classes like the Waszp to be
reviewed and incorporated sooner.
The website also makes handicap
recommendations, giving clubs an
opportunity to analyse their racing
and adjust the PY numbers published
annually by the RYA – most recently
at the Dinghy Show – to create their
own bespoke set of PY numbers.
As Bas Edmonds, RYA racing services
manager, explains: “If we can get
clubs using the website appropriately,
they wouldn’t look at our list, because
they’ve got their own club Portsmouth
Yardstick number list which is
providing hopefully fairer racing for
their competitors and members.”
The difficulty however, is in
persuading clubs to firstly take the
trouble to upload their results more
regularly, and secondly then have
the confidence to use the official PY
numbers as, in the words of pirate Jack
Sparrow, ‘more of a guideline than a rule’.NUMBER CRUNCHING
Out of around 1,000 clubs in the UK,
about 700 are running PY handicap
racing – but so far just over 250 clubs
are signed up to the website, with48 Yachts & Yachting April 2018 yachtsandyachting.co.uk