Yuletide yardstick - is a change on the way

The Yuletide yardsticks article was excellent, both informative and though provoking.  Here's the big question though is it a way of preparing the ground for a big change in the system?

Originally posted by NeilB-Phantom The Yuletide yardsticks article was excellent, both informative and though provoking.  Here's the big question though is it a way of preparing the ground for a big change in the system? Age related allowances, open/enclosed/tidal corrections?   Would the PYAG be that "daring," do they need to be to reinvigorate the dinghy scene.  I would say they do, anything to encourage more participation and get those perfectly sound but out dated and hence off rating boats back out on the water.

I think there needs to be some clarity about what people want from Yardsticks.
Firstly some people simply want a rating for each design, so that your ordinary sailor would get much the same placing regardless of what class he chose.
Other people want a system where the average sailor in each class gets the same average results.
Other people again want systems where allowances are made for individual boats or even individual sailors not being as fast as the best in their class.

There is a belief that flaws in the PY system are resposible for low numbers of people taking part.
I'm not sure I buy that.
If you look at most other sports which have reasonable participation, people seem to be able to come to terms with not personally being world class. Ordinary people run marathons and such like and feel good about 497th, knowing that's a fair result for a middle aged working bloke who only started training last year. People play squash or badminton, don't always win, but still enjoy it and come back next week.
I've sailed open meetings, come way down the fleet and known that that's a fair result for a middle aged bloke sailing on the cheap, with minimal training and mediocre preparation.

The problem of old 505's not being raced is not that world standard brand new 505s are faster, it is that your average Kevin is not motivated to race low budget 505s against his mates after work.
They're possibly out on mountain bikes in the summer, just riding together, one of them might be vaguely training for events, the other might be just enjoying some fresh air and excercise.
People in other sports seem to be much less obsessed with the results, or find it easier to accept they are not at the top level.  In sailing, it's not hard to find yourself racing against olympians, semi-pros or talented people who can beat olympians or semi-pros on their good days. All these people have better kit than you, are fitter and have been practising. So why not feel good about finishing the same race as them and maybe improving a bit?
But you need some ordinary civilians to have a proper race with, boat on boat.

Then there's a significant other group of people who prefer not to directly compare their performance with anyone, so they buy a different class of boat. If they thought they could give the club hotshot a run for his money in a Laser/Solo/MPS, they'd buy one and try. But instead they buy something deliberately obscure and sail on their own terms. I think it's a bit like some motorcyclists not buying the same Honda as their mates, they don't want to be seen as slow, they are travelling to the same place for camaraderie and thrills not  a proper race. They are happy to turn up 5 minutes later having enjoyed the ride. They are slower because they are not trying as hard.

Originally posted by Do Different Pretty much with your expanded views on this one RS. Simply like sailing, racing is mostly little more than sailing with a purpose, expect of course when I'm against someone who I judge to be on a par with me in a similar boat and even more so at the four or five class travellers I get to. I hardly ever hear any talk of PY rating at my club; we know who should be beating who and when somebody bucks the trend it's big cheers all round.

Age related handicaps is a interesting one 

what do you do about a modernised boat ?

at what point does a restoration / repair mean a boat loses it's age related  status ( and how much more is this that it needs to be reviewed and re-signed off by a measurer)