IOM Mid Week Handicap

There was a quite breezy North-Wester of about 15-18 knots and definite whitecaps on the surface of Risdon Brook dam when we first arrived. Those that rigged at home chose A-rigs on the strength of the forecast but there was no doubt that the B-rig would be the best choice and by start time all skippers had suited up in their B’s. The wind backed to the West and softened during the morning causing PRO John Banks to vigilantly change the course and a general change to A-rigs. During lunch break it intensified again from the North and so it was back to the B’s for the afternoon. Pretty much all the skippers made the same changes throughout the day and so consistent rig choice made for a level playing field.

We sailed right to the cut-off time to get our 10 races in today. Thanks John for keeping the day moving well.

The score tally was tight today with no-one appearing to have shown a real dominance. Consistency was as usual a real factor in determining the placings.

Rick Price took out 3rd place on a count-back tie with Andrew Wardrop. Rick got the nod by virtue of more second places

I managed second today. I think that my boat is always at its best with the B-rig.

Buzzy Behrens took out the day with lots of valuable 3rd places on his sheet! Congratulations and well sailed Wayne!

NEW HANDICAP SYSTEM
Quite a few people have made comments on the handicap system lately. After reviewing the current system I have decided that it would be worth trialling a new system to start next Wednesday.

There are several minor problems with the current system. Currently skippers are awarded more handicap if they finish in the bottom third of the fleet. One problem with this is that a good skipper can find that they can be assigned a handicap where they cannot win races but yet they do not perform badly enough to finish at the back of the fleet overall and so they get stuck with a high handicap. We also find that on sometimes skippers can finish in the back third of the fleet even after winning a couple of races - and so they are awarded additional handicap even though they proved successful on their current handicap.

I think that most skippers don’t judge their day out on their overall position anyway but most are happy with their day if they have had a couple of good races and got to the podium a couple of times. This seemed to me to be a good starting place to build a handicap system. So the way the new system will work is as follows:

On a day where we sail 10 races there are 30 opportunities to get to the podium (1st, 2nd and 3rd in each of the races). So if there were 15 boats sailing that would mean that every skipper should get to the podium twice.

If a skipper does get to the podium twice they have had a fair day’s sailing and they are probably on the right handicap. If a skipper has been to the podium four or five times then they have had a great day but their handicap is probably too generous and it will will be trimmed for the following week. If a skipper sails all day but does not get to the podium at all then they have had a bad day and will be given more handicap the following week.

There are other factors to bring in which make the situation more complex. It is harder to get to the podium if their are more boats racing and harder to get to the podium if we sail less than 10 races so the system will have to allow for this. And winning a race is better than coming third and so the system will also recognise and accomodate this too. Yep, maths will be involved but the system will be computer driven which will take the work out of the computations and will also eliminate administrative errors.

The new system will be like the current in that we will still have progressive race-to-race adjustment of handicap (the magnetic board) which will operate independently of the weekly starting handicap.

I have done some simulation of the new system using previous handicap data and I am confident that it should lead to a fairer system overall.

The handicaps for next Wednesday have been generated using the current system.

I will give greater explanation after we start with the new system. I am always open to feedback and questions.

COMING UP
Sunday: Marblehead scratch racing at Risdon Brook Dam (10:00 button)
Next Wednesday: IOM handicap racing at Risdon Brook Dam (11:00 button)​

Shorty