Sail Juice 2013-14 Series

Originally posted by yellowwelly

All,

As this thread has generated allot of interest regarding the RYA Portsmouth
Yardstick scheme and some questions have been raised regarding the formulation
of the RYA published Portsmouth Number list (PN List), I want to give the official
RYA stance from the staff perspective. 

A couple of notes on the PN List:

Firstly it is intended as a guide to help clubs set club handicaps for their
racing, offering a starting point for classes that a club may not have previously
had and to allow a club to observe national trends to supplement any
adjustments the club may make. Clubs are actively encouraged to make handicap
adjustments for their racing where they observe a difference in performance to
the handicap being used. The best tool for aiding with handicap adjustment is
using the PY Online website (www.pys.org.uk). 

The PN list is set using return data from clubs which is collected every winter
at the end of the sailing season (The deadline for returns this year is the
16th December). The returns are statistically analysed to form a document named
the PY Digest. This document is used by the PYAG to set the PN list for the
following season. The PYAG have a variety of policies regarding setting PN's.
The most important of which is to stick with the data. If the data suggests an
adjustment and there is nothing erroneous in the data (like a club recommending
a PN of 500 for the Optimist etc) the PYAG will make such an adjustment. The
main thing is to be able to back up any adjustment to the PN list with the data
provided.

It has always been the policy (as far as I know, having gone through minutes of
past meetings leading back to the days of the Langstone tables and Mr Milledge himself)
to use return data from club racing only. As the staff member responsible for
producing the PY digest I can hand on heart say that the Winter Championships
SailJuice series does not make a return to be included within the PY Digest. The reason being is the PN
list is aimed at club racing and as such should reflect returns from club
racing, not one off championship events. 

For those of you that have been involved in handicap setting
for a long time you will have noticed that the PN list published by the RYA has
become allot more dynamic in the last years. This is down to the data it is
based on. Historically returns have been submitted by a club handicap officer/
sailing committee etc who have either carried out their own calculations or
have used educated guess work to recommend changes to the RYA. Or in most cases
not recommended change to the PN list as they have not wanted to be unpopular
with their membership (which is understandable). This has led to the PY digest
suggesting the same number as was published in the previous year. Subsequently
PN’s on the PN list have not really moved. However In the last years, with
advancements in the PY Online website the majority of clubs have adopted its
use for benefiting many advantages. This has led to the returns the RYA receive
being far more dynamic as they reflect statistical analysis on real club race
results and as such the PY digest has recommended change in the PN list which
the PYAG have followed. 

Further to the PYAG’s operation regarding the PN list, the
RYA as an Association has done allot of work in the last year regarding conflict
of interest. This has led to a policy being approved by the RYA Council which looks
to cover COI and ensure that all RYA committees can stand by their decisions,
conflict free. Filtering down to the PYAG this formalises the practices the
group already have. As it has already been mentioned any conflicts regarding
classes sailed by members of the group are declared and those members do not
comment when their class number is considered. Even if this was not done a
number would not be able to be skewed in any one way as the returns data has to
be followed regardless to personal opinion.

I hope that this has been informative and please feel free
to email me directly should you have any comments or questions regarding the
scheme as a whole, the PY Online website or information on making a return. 

For more information please visit http://www.rya.org.uk/racing/Pages/portsmouthyardstick.aspx

You can also see a list of clubs that have submitted a
return to date at the above link, make sure your club is in the list before the
16^th December!

Andy 

Edited by AndyWibroe - 11 Nov 13 at 3:57pm