Portsmouth Yardstick enters the digital age

Expect big changes when the Portsmouth Numbers are announced at the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show, held at Alexandra Palace, London (6-7 March).

For the first year, website data collated from the RYA’s Portsmouth Yardstick Race Results Website, submitted from clubs, has enabled the Portsmouth Yardstick Group (PYG) to make confident and accurate amendments to the Portsmouth Number (PN) list.

This innovation, pioneered by the RYA’s Technical Department, has made the yardstick scheme a much more flexible and accurate system and this is reflected in the handicap adjustments for the coming season.

RYA Technical Manager Bas Edmonds explains: “The new system has allowed us to collate actual race data which when looking at the returns from the club has given the PYG the option of looking into each submitted race result to see who was sailing and if any conditions were logged, to iron out any anomalies.

“This has allowed us to adjust handicaps aggressively and with far greater confidence. This has led to big adjustments, for example, the International 14 and the Phantom classes move down ten and eight points respectively.”

In addition to this, the previously used ‘Trial Numbers’ which have been by definition issued by clubs for rolling adjustment on each race have been replaced with ‘Experimental Numbers issued by the RYA. The Experimental Numbers will be based on data coming in from the website only and will allow the RYA to interrogate the data at any point in the season and update those numbers. It will also allow the whole system to be more flexible when looking at new boats coming onto the PY scene.

A good example would be the RS100 or the D1 from Devoti, both boats which have already been taking part in some key Portsmouth Yardstick races this season. Provided that those clubs are submitting data to the RYA via the website, then the RYA will have the option of publishing a number within a matter of months, rather than the couple of years under the previous scheme.

Updated Experimental Numbers will only be available to registered clubs using the RYA Race Results Website and will not feature on the normal PN list published on the RYA website. The purpose behind this is an incentive to get clubs to sign up and start using the RYA Race Results Website as the whole scheme is totally dependent on the data that the clubs submit.

With a decline in the amount of data submitted to the RYA from clubs carrying out cruiser racing means that the RYA is looking to work with RORC and IRC to reinvigorate the cruiser racing scene, so look forward to updates on this over the coming months.

To see a copy of the new PN list visit www.rya.org.uk/infoadvice/racing/Pages/portsmouthyardstick.aspx

Bas Edmonds and Leah Brooks will both be at the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show to help with any queries on the changes, or any other matters relating to RYA Technical.