Melges 14

My experience is that the Phantom and 300 are definitely faster than the Zero (and 8.1) when sailed by comparable sailors.

Originally posted by Rupert An alternative is the idea that the CMBA use in the USA. The rig is standard (in their case the old rules low aspect Moth rig) and you bung under it a hull that fits some pretty basic criteria. Do that with 2 or 3 rig design sizes (say ones that match the 5, 7 and 9 of the Aero, but I bet RS wouldn't agree...) where you can then put a hull of certain dimensions under it. You get no expensive rig development coats that are a large portion of a development class, but can design hulls to suit, some of which might become one designs, like the Europe did. Edit - thinking about it, this is effectively what the Open Sailing Canoe Group have done, having given up on defining what a canoe is.

An alternative is the idea that the CMBA use in the USA. The rig is standard (in their case the old rules low aspect Moth rig) and you bung under it a hull that fits some pretty basic criteria. Do that with 2 or 3 rig design sizes (say ones that match the 5, 7 and 9 of the Aero, but I bet RS wouldn't agree...) where you can then put a hull of certain dimensions under it. You get no expensive rig development coats that are a large portion of a development class, but can design hulls to suit, some of which might become one designs, like the Europe did.

Edit - thinking about it, this is effectively what the Open Sailing Canoe Group have done, having given up on defining what a canoe is.




Edited by Rupert - 22 Jan 15 at 2:01pm

Turtle
Why not let the RS300,Finn and Phantom in as well? I am positive both the Aero 9 and Zero's handicap will drop to close to the Phantom as more results are recorded.

Effectively, classes are in categories in handicap racing. My Lightning 368 is in the 1150 category, currently. Trouble is, the categories are so small you rarely get to sail against other boats in the same one - apart from maybe other Lightning 368s, but then that is One Design again.

So open them out. have an 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 ,13 category. The Lightning, Solo, Byte, Firefly would fit in the 11 box, along with many more. But 100 points on the handicap system is a hell of a lot. The OK and Enterprise would also be in there, and the Comet. What chance would the Comet have of winning? So, you reduce the category size, and so the number of boats on the start line is reduced - halved, maybe, if you have 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5 etc. And it is still biased towards the boats at the fast end of the box. So, divide it again, and you end up roughly with what we have now. I still think that a 10 point granularity is close enough, but you still end up with handicap racing as being a more fair system than categories.