John,
I've sailed at a club for more than 20yrs where we would have a handicap for each boat based on past results. These handicaps would be adjusted to, in theory , have each boat finish the race at the same time. As you improved your handicap would be adjusted so you had to continue to improve to win and the winner is the most improve that race.
Once a month we would have a championship race to be a part of the club championship series that would determine the best sailor in the club over the year. The club championship would be calculated not on the particular boat/crew handicap but on the VYC, a system similar to used in the US and no one is ever happy with the numbers in such a system.

The local individual boat/crew handicapping system provided the most enjoyable racing, especially when we handicapped the starts.

Regards,
Phill

I know that the voices in my head aint real,
but they have some pretty good ideas.
There is no such thing as a quick fix and I've never had free lunch!