Handicaps and all that

[mm5aho]

I note that on the CYCA website there's a look up system to find a handicap.
It shows Contender (Rival 32) as 22 mins/hr.
Now I don't know much about handicaps (other than my personal ones!), but does that mean for every hour sailed in a race they will subtract 22 minutes to give a final time?
22 minutes seems excessive. But there are boat styles at 30 minutes even.

What is the difference between total allowances min/hr and final min/hr?

[marisca]

If you look a bit harder Geoff, you will also find an explanation of how it works. Basically for every real hour you sail, your time is changed to 38 minutes of "corrected time". The other way of looking at it is to use the TCF (time correction factor) which in your case is (60-22)/60 = .6333 and multiply your actual time by it to get your corrected time. Marisca's handicap is 18.75 giving a TCF of .6875 which means for every hour I sail you get 5min 8sec more which is, of course, a travesty of justice and a totally bandit handicap unless I beat you, in which case it is indicative of my skill.
The handicap lapses on ownership change so you might want to give the CYCA office a ring.

[claymore]

Yes - the handicap system is of course complete bowlocks.
It is based solely on the capabilities of the boat and takes no account of the nut on the end of the tiller or others crewing.
This is one of the reasons why Claymore, a veritable Ocean Greyhound, is never raced - we would have Parahandy aboard so we are totally fekked before we start.

If the handicap system were to work in a pursuit race everyone would finish exactly at the same time, in ilne abreast.
There isn't a single race committee in the world could cope with that so, again, proof if proof were needed, that the system is designed not to work.

I could go on.....

[mm5aho]

Thanks.
One of my handicaps might be in not reading the whole document?
I've asked them if a half change in ownership requires a new handicap.
The original handicap dates back to the 1970s. Something must have changed in that time... there's more layers of antifouling for a start!

[Silkie]

It shows Contender (Rival 32) as 22 mins/hr.

I know I've been championing their virtues elsewhere recently but Silkie only gets 26.5 mins/hr. Surely a Rival 32 is more than 4.5 mins/hr faster than a Hurley 22?

[claymore]

Not if the Hurley is sailed properly....

[marisca]

It shows Contender (Rival 32) as 22 mins/hr.

I know I've been championing their virtues elsewhere recently but Silkie only gets 26.5 mins/hr. Surely a Rival 32 is more than 4.5 mins/hr faster than a Hurley 22?

It works out closer to 8 mins/hr when you do the sums. There is no such thing as a "fair" handicap. Different boats behave differently in different wind and sea conditions. Doesn't stop racing being fun, though, and supplies an endless topic for discussion at the bar.