Personal Handicaps?

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STEVEB
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Location: United Kingdom

Re: Personal Handicaps?

Post by STEVEB »

No-one is suggesting that all races are run on a personal handicap basis, in our case it is just one each day. Also we have about 30+ Solo's so it is not just a matter of a few individuals. On rare occasions the best Laser sailor may beat a Solo on the water by a hundred yards or so but then loses out by several minutes on PY corrected time. Its not their fault that the sailing committee refuses to use the PY system properly :evil:
STEVE
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JimC
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Re: Personal Handicaps?

Post by JimC »

We, or possibly most technically I as I do the sums, run a personal handicap system for the two big series at my club. Sailors are divided into bands 0 to 5, each one getting a 5% incrementing PY number, and the handicaps are calculated on the same basis. Results are produced both on standard and personal handicap, and the major prize is the standard handicap of course. As you might expect it most rewards improving sailors: I treasured the grin on one of our Topper sailor's face when he realised that for this year he was now in the same band as his father having been two below at the beginning of last season...

Something I'm learning at the moment is that one of the biggest influences on which class wins is the course set... I've just lost all enthusiam for simple quadrilateral courses becauseof the huge emphasis they put on downwind sailing...
davidh
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Re: Personal Handicaps?

Post by davidh »

Jim,

absolutely. Although I don't personally like these systems, I can really see the value where they are calculated with care and consideration - then then can 'add' to the racing experience.

agree 100% as well about the increased use of the leeward course - whatever happened to reaching? At the Warming Pan there were three classes of boats (12, Firefly and MR) all of which love nothing more than a good blast - so the race team set windward leeward!!

D
David H
alan williams
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Re: Personal Handicaps?

Post by alan williams »

Hi David, But for a race officer w/l course is the most easily managed. Hate W/L even in a Finn which does well on this type of course. The trouble is I feel that all the recent Smods have been designed with half a spinnaker. There is nothing better than blasting along on a tight kite reach with a proper kite, in a fast two man trapeze boat. This sorts the men out from the boys. Throw in a gybe at the wing mark and it's bliss.
When sailing CATS enjoy p course and that cat favourate the figure of 8 with two beats and two very fast broad reaches.
Cheers Al
Rumour has it that we may see you in a classic finn in the future.
JimC
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Re: Personal Handicaps?

Post by JimC »

alan williams wrote:Hi David, But for a race officer w/l course is the most easily managed.
To my mind it comes of too much lead mine sailing... Lead mine sailors believe that reaches are a just a procession. I gained a big insight into this whilst watching last year's Solo Open meeting at my club... I was suprised by just how big a difference the reaches made, not directly to the order of the fleet, but to the tactical options on the next beat. Someone who was fast down the reaches would close right up to the boats in front, putting themselves in a position where they had options to take very attacking positions on the beat, with those just ahead forced into a very defensive cover, whilst they themselves had no great worries about boats behind, because only a loose cover was sufficient to keep them at bay.

Someone who was slow on the reaches, by contrast, not only had a hard charging bunch behind to protect against, but was also seemed to be forced into a riskier strategy to get close enough to the next bunch.

I can see that in a fleet of leadmines where no boat will go much faster or slower than another boat that reaches could get processional, but in those Solo races they were, I felt, very significant to final results. But even more importantly, if the boat is so boring to sail that only racing counts, what the **** are you doing in it? You could have just as much fun racing woodlice across the garden path...
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