Fairer Racing = Higher Participation

Sam Blaker in his RS Aero 6 during the Oxford Blue © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Coming up this Tuesday evening, the organisers of the Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series are running a Zoom meeting to explore the future of handicap racing, and how advances in technology can be used more widely to create a more attractive playing field for fair racing on the water...

Would you like to see more boats on the start line? Whether you're racing at your club or in open meetings, most of us like to see bigger numbers on the water.

Maximising participation remains one of the biggest challenges for most racing fleets. After strong turnouts at the recently completed Selden Sailjuice Winter Series, co-organisers Simon Lovesey and Andy Rice are hosting a special meeting on Zoom this Tuesday, 26 March. Taking place from 1930 hours GMT, this meeting has a special focus on handicapping and how it can be used to encourage fairer racing and greater participation.

Expert guests on the call include:

Adam Parry from the RYA, who will be talking about PYS analysis, the ability to link club data, and use of new class lists for accurate data collection and reporting

Andrew Craig from Queen Mary Sailing Club, and the chairman and founder of the Great Lakes Handicap Committee which was formed a decade ago to come up with a fair set of PY numbers for the Selden Sailjuice Winter Series.

Here, Andrew outlines the areas he is looking to cover on the Zoom call...

"As another successful Selden SailJuice Winter Series has completed with worthy winners in every category, you are invited to join a Handicap Forum to hear how the Great Lakes Handicap Committee set the handicaps for the series. It will also be an opportunity for you to give us your views on how the handicaps are working now and what could be the next steps to improve. We very much hope you can join the forum and to hear your views. The agenda will be:

• Why the Great Lakes handicaps were started - in support of the Winter Series given perceived limitations of some RYA and class handicaps at the time
• How the handicaps are set - using PYS analysis of series race data, RYA PNs, class and club input plus boat specs for new classes
• The success achieved - with evidence based on the variety of classes in top places and high level of participation. See our stats on this greatlakes.org.uk/sws-stats.php
• The aims we now have - to maximise participation from all classes and to encourage vintage boats to race (within the limits of achievable race management at these large events)
• The support from the RYA - PYS analysis extensions, ability to link club data, use of new class list for accurate data collection and reporting
• The support we need from others - feedback on current handicaps, new ideas, offers of help
• Discussion including breakout groups
• Close - and how to submit further feedback

We look forward to seeing you on the call and to hear your views."

SIGN UP HERE FOR THE ZOOM CALL:

enter.sailracer.org/eventsites/content.asp?id=50564&eventid=225490

and more details on this Facebook page...

www.facebook.com/events/412282441563827?ref=110