Personal Handicaps

I suppose, now I think of it, in a pursuit race, having a sort of 50% personal handicap will have the effect of bunching the fleet together to create an artificial sense of drama and more boat on boat interaction. So if the sailors think its more fun like that then why not. Might make it a bit easier to capture results closer to the gun if the fleet is more bunched too.

In a single start handicap on the other hand it still seems pointless to me, and I think people would be better served by dual scoring.


Completely off topic, reading our SIs again recently I was amused to notice that no-one at our club *ever* finishes a pursuit race according to the SIs. Maybe we ought to rewrite them to cover what people actually do...

Another two pursuit races yesterday. Another two failures. I am never last because there are always learners out there. I am an important target for them. I have two main Lightning tormentors, one a 25 year old girl whose bottom I always admire...from behind and a gentleman five years older than me at seventy four who has a pacemaker and Parkinsons disease. The girl was not present yesterday but the gentleman thrashed me twice. I know my place in the universe and within our racing fleet. I do not expect to metamorphose into Ainslie over night, rather I expect to deteriorate until first-time-in-a boat beginners obliterate me. All sailing with my personal handicap would do is prove my devastating incompetence, I am aware of that so why bother?  **

Originally posted by Medway Maniac Originally posted by iGRF I'm not even going to bother this winter I don't think, give it a miss for a bit. And do what?

Whatever she tells me..






















..maybe a streaker's not so bad after all

Edited by iGRF - 17 Nov 14 at 9:03am

Originally posted by RS400atC Originally posted by GarethT Try thinking of it as ........ a bit of fun! +1.Gives a nod of encouragement to the improvers, adds a bit of interest, spreads the prizes around.I wouldn't want every race to be on PH, but one more random or mathematically unjustifiable bit of spreadsheet abuse won't stop me enjoying a good race on the water.

Spot on gents- why not offer some duel scoring as Jim suggests, handicap racing should be seen as route into racing for newbies and provide a framework for those with less competitive ambitions, so why not offer a golf club approach?

Originally posted by craiggo Originally posted by iGRF If it were a perfect world and we had somehow managed to allot craft an actual performance figure which works, I could see the benefit of a personal handicap you try to better, in my pathetic way I try to visualise myself doing it down the lake, my boats handicap is 1024, I can now sail it to 1060 which means I'm 36 points off being capable in my opinion of myself. Then I go on the sea and can sail it to it's handicap, so what does that mean, the boats on the sea are not as good as the boats on the lake? No, not at all. It means the boats on the lake have too generous a handicap against my boat. At least I think it does... Then again it could be because my boat's handicap is wrong or I'm a crap sailor on the lake. Not at all confusing. Having done a lot of my early sailing on inland ponds, and most of my recent sailing at salt water venues, I would say that you probably struggle inland due to applying techniques more suited to larger sea based venues. The techniques are hugely different, and when I now sail inland I have to really work at ignoring the impulse to do what I normally do when sailing at my home club. Inland sailors tend to be masters of playing the shifts while open water sailors tend to be better at wringing boat speed out of their chosen craft. The open sea sailor won't have time to get setup properly on the confines of a lake, but the inland sailor will probably make best use of shifts still and if the tide is not too strong will probably get enough boat speed to give you a good race on the salty stuff. As a result I think the PY between inland and sea venues should be the same, as I imagine the effects of it are small compared to the speed differences resulting from sailors applying incorrect technique.

Nope it's more to do with the confines, to win, I have to lap the lead boat twice and three or four times if it's a Miracle, and it's basically not possible even on a good day, I do also get a bit bored after a while, the EPS is better suited to water where it can stretch it's legs for more than 60 secs before having to tack or turn. It's the point that everyone makes tat it's not possible to have one number fits all, that I kind of accept, but it would be nice to know that the number that is allocated, is allocated in exactly the same way for everyone, as it would be on a personal handicap. If you want to win on a small lake, buy a boat more suited to it, which I thought I had, then they went and shifted the goal posts again and it ended up with a faster handicap than the EPS.

So try and buck the system as you might, in the end if you want to join in you have really no choice but to accept the bollox of sailing old junk, unless you're lucky enough to sail at Grafham.

I'm not even going to bother this winter I don't think, give it a miss for a bit.