Yachts & Yachting – April 2018

TIMOLIN/SAILJUICE WINTER SERIES; TOM GRUITT/Y&Y

knowledge about the performance of

manyclassesonourstretchofwater.”

Draycote currently uses Great

LakeshandicapnumbersforitsClub

Championship series of Bank Holiday

pursuit races, and uses the national PY

list for general handicap races. While

theGreatLakesnumberscouldbeseen

as local adjustment, they are still based

on data primarily from other clubs.

When the PYonline website

recommendsaPNforaparticularclass

at a club, it comes with a confidence

factor based on the amount of data,

andChrishasheardofclubslocally

adjusting Portsmouth numbers away

from the national PY list, based

on using the confidence factor as a

percentage of the suggested change:

“Thebeautyofthiscalculationisthat

if the data set is small, the confidence

factor will be low and minimal

changes would be recommended.”

Chris acknowledges, however, that

Portsmouth Yardstick numbers can

be an emotive subject: “I think a lot of

sailing committees feel it’s easier to stick

with the national numbers rather than

stir the hornets’ nest. It is an easy get-out

tosay‘wearestickingtothenational

numberlistbecauseitisbasedonthe

most data’, but is that fair? If the data

suggests numbers need moving then

shouldn’t it be at least looked into?”

He says quantity of data is probably

the largest stumbling block for small

clubs,butthatclubscancontacttheRYA

to amalgamate their data in groups of up

to10clubs:“Theideaisforclubsthatsail

onsimilarstretchesofwatertobeableto

increase their data pool for classes where

theymayonlyhaveoneortwoboats.

This should help to reduce the possibility

of adjusted numbers effectively

becoming personal handicaps. I could

envisage narrow river clubs grouping

together, or perhaps small lakes, and

maybe even highly tidal clubs perhaps.

“Itshouldbesaidwehavenoticed

that small movements of less than five

pointsareunlikelytomakeasignificant

difference to overall series results, but

the cumulative effect of small changes

inonedirectionoverafewyearscan.

Clubs making small adjustments should

see tighter race results but ultimately the

cream still rising to the top over a series.

“We’ve moved a long way from the

Langstone tables,” adds Chris, who

would love clubs to be more proactive

in submitting their results and adjusting

handicaps locally, since hopefully for

classeswithgooddata,achangein

number can be proven, while for those

with minimal data, no change would

be recommended. Most have found

that after the initial grumbling has

died down, race results can be closer.

“Iwouldliketothinkthatthework

theRYAandEHAGhavedoneoverthe

last few years to promote confidence in

thePYsystemhasallowedeveryoneto

seethatitisnowmorereactive,”says

Chris. “Hopefully, this also means that

sailors now understand that if their

sailing committees are suggesting a

change away from the national list for

their class with valid data to back up

this change, it’s nothing personal. See

it as a reward for all your hard work

on the water and use it as an incentive

to try even harder next time out!”

PERSONAL HANDICAPS

In addition to adjusting class handicaps

locally, the RYA is looking at how

personal handicapping might benefit

clubs, as happens in golf, whereby you

mayhavefinishedeighthbuthave

outperformed your personal handicap

andpotentiallywon.Themathsis

relatively simple; the trick will be

Many feel it is easier to stick to the national

numbers rather than stir the hornets’ nest

Above

The Tiger Trophy

is one of the

biggest winter

handicap events

50 Yachts & Yachting April 2018 yachtsandyachting.co.uk