Pondicaps...ffs.

Originally posted by GybeFunny Wouldnt your fixed measurement system have spat out a new number for you when you bought that new sail or you re-routed your mainsheet, increased purchase on the kicker, moved the racks more inboard, etc? Therefore it wouldnt have stayed like it was when you first turned up.

Well if the beam/righting moment were part of the data input required then yes it would give a different number, for the rack movement or sail, my racks are fixed now on the innermost position thanks to the storms blowing the boat off the trailer and bending some bit that probably shouldn't be bent.

But, that programme MM has put up there, that I need, trouble is I'm all mac, and it's a piece of godawful PC software by the look of it, I wonder if that's what they were using, I honestly don't normally bother to even look at results down there til the following week to see how bad/much I've got to improve.
I did actually enter temporary crap mode and got unsynched from the shifts so in my mind I didn't deserve to win, but then he made a fundamental error, taking the tack furthest away from the mark whilst I took the right one, then God sent me a beaut of a header, which gave me an instant 20 boat length cover, then instead of waiting me out he tacked first and let me stay behind and inside him so the next shift gave me another ten boat lengths and order was fully restored...Prior to that he'd gotten in front of me so the result should have been tighter and I would have expected to be beaten on handicap, so my guilt was doubled, I don't wake up screaming in the night about it, but I'm not comfortable, to the point here I am confessing my sins...

PS, just stop taking coastal returns altogether and leave us with the PN's as of 2007, it was fine then.

Edited by iGRF - 01 May 14 at 3:08pm

As usual - either him or the other good, Hartley Wayfarer sailor.  

Spot on second paragraph, Rupert.  Your first just illustrates the subjectivity and frustration that local PY adjustments often imply.

Originally posted by kneewrecker So you are advocating that your local club should not adjust the handicap?

I've said this all along, for this very reason, why put them in the position where they quite plainly piss off their membership, it might appear to help some whilst it irritates others.

What is required clearly is a fixed boat rating system and a volunteer handicap according to local skill/conditions applied, but the boat system must be accurate and maths based, not buffer on the end of a wet bit of string..

I'm happy that I'm not good enough to sail my boat to its handicap, so I keep trying harder with the hope that one day... But I'm not happy 'they' think oh that muppet needs a bit of help lets bung him up to 1062..

Edited by iGRF - 01 May 14 at 12:56pm

Originally posted by Rupert Pat, I think you'll find there is a much more complicated way of working out who won if there are different numbers of laps...Grumph, you have been complaining for years about the Miracle handicap. All they have done is change the handicaps of other boats relative to it in order to reflect the performance of those boats on a tiny puddle. Isn't that what you wanted? It could be that they have over adjusted, and maybe not allowed for enough (lack of) crew skill factor, but what they are doing is what the RYA want clubs to do, isn't it? It may be that they will cut your handicap back a little after a while once they see what results are coming in, and you appear to be too favoured now. You could even suggest they knock 10 points off. What they are doing is difficult with only a few returns, but at least they are trying to get fair racing.Remember, a PY isn't a fixed thing - it isn't "how fast my boat goes", so sailing off a different one may well reflect the potential of the boat better than the one in the lists for that stretch of water.

Yes yes yes I know all that, precisely why I think the system is screwed, I'd rather they had just left it as it was when I first turned up, at least I could have a fixed measure as to my performance, 40 points on here, 10 points off there, that's no sport, exactly the reason to adopt a fixed measured system. I don't want my performance artificially assisted any more than I want it reduced, I'm trying to learn how to do this thing, how can I do that all the time they're shifting the bloody goal posts all over the place?