Best Handicapped Boat?

Depends on the conditions and size of pond/sea etc. On a pond a Phantom is hard to beat in light/medium stuff. Fireballs seem to do well on bigger waters.

Easy peasy.  Learn to sail a MPS properly and then you are quids in.  As the boat is so difficult to sail, the average spash factor is high.  Thus the Handicap reflects this as the handicap is based on the actual results of the people who sail it, not the potential spped of the boats.

This also means that a fair % of the time is just keeping the stick above the plate and so someone who knows how to sail the boat really well and so makes many less mistakes will sail well above the handicap (that is derived from the average sailor).

This IMO also shows why the laser rarely does well in handicap event as there are many people sailing it and so the handicap has been driven down to the level where the boat is sailing to it's theoretical limit (well nearly, not may olly sailors do handicap events)

Originally posted by Scooby_simon Easy peasy.  Learn to sail a MPS properly and then you are quids in.  As the boat is so difficult to sail, the average spash factor is high.  Thus the Handicap reflects this as the handicap is based on the actual results of the people who sail it, not the potential spped of the boats. This also means that a fair % of the time is just keeping the stick above the plate and so someone who knows how to sail the boat really well and so makes many less mistakes will sail well above the handicap (that is derived from the average sailor). This IMO also shows why the laser rarely does well in handicap event as there are many people sailing it and so the handicap has been driven down to the level where the boat is sailing to it's theoretical limit (well nearly, not may olly sailors do handicap events)

True but not always of course, in light winds the handicap is hard to hold - if you look at the classes that have won the most winter classics over the years it has to be the Fireball.

Rick

 

Originally posted by Scooby_simon This IMO also shows why the laser rarely does well in handicap event as there are many people sailing it and so the handicap has been driven down to the level where the boat is sailing to it's theoretical limit

More I think that Laser sailors are focussed on beating the next Laser rather than beating the clock. I see it a lot at my club, where we have some pretty hot Laser Sailors. If one gets well clear up the first beat he'll be well up there, often win on handicap. Id, as is more common, there are three or four of them changing places then they'll be nowhere on handicap. handicap racing is a deifferent game with a different emphasis, and if tht's the game you're into you probably won't be buying a Laser!

Add that to the fact that the top Laser sailors are so convinced they can't win on handicap that they don't enter the big events and... probably also fair to say that in the "every dog has its day stakes" the Laser doesn't really get one, and in most conditions there'll be something that will star more. This evens out over a series, which makes the handicap good for club racing in a series, but ain't much help if you want to win the Bloody Mary or the Grafham Grand prix.

As for an overall handicap bandit - no such thing, the system works pretty well. I've never found Fireballs any particular issue except in the conditions that suit a long thin boat wih moderate sail area that's not especially fast for its size. I always figured that was just their turn (as we hammered them in the conditions that suited us).

However I did notice that the Gull PY, last time it was listed, had got much more favourable than it was when I sailed them thirty five years ago and there was serious racing in them. Get a decent wood one, get it down to weight and worked up with new rags etc and it could be a decent option for a couple of mirror squad sailors...

Edited by JimC

The Europe rocks on handicap. As turnturtle said - small ponds, light winds, lots of offwind sailing in a hull which is about 10kg if not more lighter than a Laser, with the same sail area as a standard rig - yeehah! Sadly the Radial is not quite so generous.