New class PY numbers?

Or you could fashion a formula based on boat length, weight, sail size, displacement, etc 

Originally posted by PeterG <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Lucida Grande", "Segoe UI", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; : rgb251, 251, 253;">Or you could fashion a formula based on boat length, weight, sail size, displacement, etc </span> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Lucida Grande", "Segoe UI", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; : rgb251, 251, 253;"></span> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Lucida Grande", "Segoe UI", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; : rgb251, 251, 253;">My initial response to that is that it would not be a bad way to generate initial PYs, that could then be updated in the usual way.</span> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Lucida Grande", "Segoe UI", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; : rgb251, 251, 253;"></span> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Lucida Grande", "Segoe UI", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; : rgb251, 251, 253;">However, the danger with that approach is that designers of new boats could end up designing to handicap, in the way IOR boats were (and no doubt others still are). That would tend to push new designs into a limited range of hull shapes etc. And I'd hope we would all agree that those sort of rule based distortions are best avoided if designers are going to concentrate on designing the "best" boat for whatever niche they are targeting.</span>

Well that depends on the formula, but better i would have thought than the current scenario where old designs get given a makeover, in light stiff construction and marketed as racing Bandits. Wayfarer being the current example.

I would have thought that a formula could give a reasonable stab at an old style 2/3 digit PY number, even for different development class shapes, since the differences in designs are in seconds rather than minutes.

2 years of making hay while the numbers are kind? I can see a builder taking that, and hoping there are enough for one design racing at the end of it. If there aren't, then cut loses and bring out another one.

The thing is, it's basic physics that defines a boat performance and it is quantifiable, What isn't necessarily quantifiable is the variable performance across wind strengths, but then like now, that's the same for everyone.

What is wrong with the current system is for the sake of argument lets call it indifference, and the focus on a few particular classes and the others get to go hang.

I believe that the boat 'Performance Quotient' for sake of a better term should be fixed once defined and only altered if there are physical changes. Sailors change, they have good days, bad days, make mistakes, the weather has windy years, calm years, there are shifts in volumes of performance types, there are any number of 'chaos' factors that get applied to the current system, which fair enough if that style of handicapping is what's preferred all well and good, but out of the gate the boats themselves should be compared like for like first as a point of reference..

A boat with a given length, volume, a particular sail size with a particular crew weight will perform to a particular speed compared with another with different statistics, big sails go faster than small sails, big volume boats support more crew weight than low volume boats these factors are particularly apparent on fresh water and so they are quantifiable. If you really go into it hull types rounded v flat planing etc can all be formulated if there were the desire for it.

But all the time the luddites are happy to tolerate the status quo then it's not going to happen really is it?

Edited by iGRF - 18 Feb 17 at 11:35am