I'll take a crack at it:

As Pete said, when racing with other F16 (5 in a race constitutes a class) we race against each other. First across wins (no handicap system is used...regardless of boat configuration uni (single handed) or sloop (two person crew)).

If we sail in an "Open" class, which means there aren't enough boats of one kind to make a class..all the boats are handicaped by a "Portsmouth Number". You can learn more about how the portsmouth number works here .

The elapsed time of each boat is "corrected" based upon their porstmouth number. These times stacked lowest time to highest time. Lowest time wins...