PYS Online

I know I never join in with all this PY nonsense....but...! We have new members this year, a very pleasant husband and wife team sailing an Albacore. They are very good at it as well. To my surprise Albacore sail off 1045 even though they are of tub like aspect. Since they arrived they have never been out of the top three. Most times the faster single handers can deal with them but today the wind was strong and horribly shifty. This suited the boat very well because it is heavy and has clouds of sail. It has two big sails to fly downwind and enough weight to dampen out the minor shifts at other times. Today it was a bandit however tomorrow it will not be.

Originally posted by The Moo Originally posted by Woodburner Well we had eighteen boats out today, our laser fleet has grown to six with another due soon which will make 8 in total when they all show up. The sun shone and the breeze blew so all in all not a bad day, marred only if you look at the handicap results. So according to your post a few days back you said you were racing scratch. Is that just you or are all Hythe members adopting this approach?

Edited by Woodburner - 11 May 15 at 9:47am

Originally posted by chrisg Personally I enjoy that aspect of handicap racing where you are trying to push the boat as hard as you can right up until the finish gun which isn't always necessary in a fleet race.

Very true.  

My view on the PYs allocated to the boats we race is very simple.   I reckon I can generally race my boat to about 70% of it's rating and maybe a little more if the Gods smile on me.  Sure, new sails, foils, hull etc may add  a percentage or two but the fundamental drag is me.  If I could improve 5% or 10%  - unlikely, as maintaining the current status is looking shaky - that would be the single  greatest benefit to my results and not endless campaigning and whining about PY ratings.

Also, the longer time frame of a season's racing pretty much evens out the boat performance variations in different wind conditions, so, I just accept that the trapeze boats get up and go as the breeze builds but I'll have a chance of getting my own back in the lighter winds.

The greatest single asset of h/c racing is Opis can race Int Canoes and 49ers and everything in between.   7 year olds against 70 year olds.   It's very inclusive.  And by timing all of the official class-race-only boats, they too can be added to an "all club h/c" series.   They get their mini class result as well as an all of club result.  How great is that?

Originally posted by turnturtle Originally posted by boatshed They get their mini class result as well as an all of club result.  How great is that some may see it as a bit of a turnoff - as it detracts from the purity of their class racing. Case in point, do you start luffing a Laser that over takes you to windward ?  She or he may have a very different view of whether they are actually racing us

Most lines of purity end up weak due to shrinkage of the genetic pool.  Look at Labradors. 

Regarding your luffing question.   The luffer would have to make a tactical decision.   A Terra, with a shout at winning, would be daft to luff 'lapping' Laser, risk a collision and an argument over who does turn 720 turns.   Just let it blat by.   Same as upwind,  it is often much better to give a port hand boat room on the beat.

Saying that, I had a very well and  'enthusiastically' sailed Terra hand me my ass on the start line yesterday! 

Originally posted by Woodburner Originally posted by The Moo Originally posted by Woodburner Well we had eighteen boats out today, our laser fleet has grown to six with another due soon which will make 8 in total when they all show up. The sun shone and the breeze blew so all in all not a bad day, marred only if you look at the handicap results. So according to your post a few days back you said you were racing scratch. Is that just you or are all Hythe members adopting this approach? Those that are interested are keeping yardstick results, those that aren't race scratch - everyones happy or not, we're just not bothered with sending results in and I'm not about to encourage it, what we do is so far out of tune with all that surrounds the yardstick system there would be little point, the system as it stands should be called the Puddlesham Protectors Yardstick System. The Lake club I belong to take the opposite view but for what goes on there the system is very relevant and can be easily managed as it is enclosed water and works in concert with what the system has become. Sailing on a lake and the chequer board nature demands such a system, sailing on the sea with the breeze in your hair, open water, waves and an endless horizon is fun enough in itself, who cares what a bunch of buffers huddled in their wooden huts wondering how they're going to protect their sailing coffins from the onslaught of the modern world think - f**k them and sail it anyway..

So that's just GRF and yourself itching the scratch.