Changes at SCHRS

Congratulations?? Simon,

I think you may well have your work cut out to make up the ground lost to Texel in recent years.

It might be quite a nice addition to publish an additional rating figure per boat or officially sanctioned conversion factor to convert SCHRS to PY. There is often a debate as to the correct PY for a Cat when we come to race all-in against monos. An 'official' figure would at leat have RC and competitor singing off the same hymn sheet.

Good luck with the task ahead.

Can only second/ third the congratulations.

It will be really good to see the rule move and grow in line with the recent changes to CAT sailing. Todays boats are so different to the boats that were around at the time the rule was first proposed.

Beam and spinny pole length have always been my two little grumbling points.  

Well, just to prove my point , if you take the Dart 18 (which has a Primary PY of 798 and a SCHRS of 1.18) you get a factor of 676.3.

If you use the other Multi with a Primary PY (Dart 15) you get 693.9 !!!

You see the problem?

If SCHRS would agree an 'official' conversion factor then there wouldn't be any arguments..... well, there'd be less

I am aware of the differences between the two systems and the inherent problem of what we are trying to do, but then we don't race in an ideal, theoretical world.....

You cannot get a standard single number conversion between a measurement based system like CHRS and an empirical system like PY. Its logically impossible because the two are working on an entirely different basis.
For example a measurement system will tend to a bias towards well designed craft which are fast for their raw numbers.
By contrast an empIrical system runs the risk of favouring unpopular boats that are only sailed by the less talented sailors.
I'm sure you can all come up with other examples. none of these biases are "good" or "bad" they're just the nature of the beast...

Hi Simon,

It is a really tough problem. The PY numbers of the Sprint 15 and Dart 18 are in my view correct with respect to one another. By this I mean fair. With respect to monohulls catamarans such as the Sprint 15 & Dart 18 never do well in anything less than a force 4 but do well at higher wind strengths. A handicap system will never address this difference so we have to accept it. The SCHRS system is necessary to accommodate newer classes with a variety of sail plans which will never collect enough empirical data. It is a problem that the formula based SCHRS system does not give similar results for established classes with good PY numbers such as the Dart 18 and Sprint 15. It is even more of a problem when the SCHRS system comes up with different ratings within a class (such as the Sprint 15 & the Sprint 15 Sport mode and probably the Dart 18 unarig single handed mode and the Dart 18 2-up mode). For these reasons the large established classes tend to steer clear of SCHRS rated events in favour of class racing.

Any ideas to review the formulea to get the ratio of established classe (Dart 18, Sprint 15, Shearwater & Hobie 16 without spinakker) ratings more similar to the PY numbers would be beneficial in my view. What ever you do you are bound to get complaints.

Best of Luck

Bob