Development = faster?

Why not try average lap races with shorter laps?  That way the fast boats don't have to be the first to finish and the slow boats the last.  Unless it's really light and you can only get one lap....

As well as the low return causing problems for achieving better average handicaps.  There is a fundemental problem if the handicap spread is too great.  The fast boats sail a different race in different conditions to the medium and slow.  Not only that summer evening series are often dogged with the wind dying - the fast boats have finished leaving the slower handicaps bobbing about in hardly any breeze.   There are corrections for all these things but they would be too complicated for the average club OOD to manage fairly, after all sometimes just timing the start and getting the flags up in the right order is an achievement.

Class racing is best, but I'd settle for any racing - my current challenge isn't to come first but simply get mine and my son's act together sufficiently to beat a couple of very good Ent sailors at our club on the water (even though my handicap is faster).  I had great satisfaction the other week sailing with one of our girls (who hardly ever goes out) when we beat one of the club's top laser sailors to the windward mark on the first beat (same Hcap under the old numbers).  Of course it all went downhill from there and at a minute or so to hoist the spinnaker we were never going to excel.  But we enjoyed it.

The 29er yardstick has been all over the shop.  I remember when it first arrived in the UK it was raced at the bloody mary off the same handicap as the 4000's, it then went down to 940 and promtly won every event.  Its been hovering around 924 for a while now.  Personally I can just about sail to that, but my usual partner and I weigh 24 stone all up wheras the top guys are less than 20 I think.  Part of it is that people have now mastered the boat and also the optimum crew weight has dropped.  I reckon a value of about 918-921 is about right now which puts it level with an RS600 which seems right. 

Garry's right to.  I have literally boxes of trophies in the loft - sounds immodest but I'm afraid I'm just an average sort of bloke who just keeps turning up!

I've noticed that too.  We have very close racing with 29ers in our 4000 and they are over 20 points different.  Similarly it is easy to get thrashed boat for boat with a RS400 if the wind is light. 

The biggest shock is against symetrical spinnaker boats.  Boats like Wayfarers, their little kites mean they can go higher than us off the wind in a breeze and downwind they can sail straight down the rhumb line which pays in the light stuff.  We do however have much wider grins than they.

By the way, a golden rule when sailing in mixed fleets, never try to go through a Wayfarer's lee!