The SCHRS is the official ISAF handicap system and although it is good, like all handicap systems, some boats seem to pop out the side of the system and flag up errors. Its been long proved that single handed F16's cannot now compete with the duals, when one of the top A Class sailors in the world tried at the 2010 Europeans ( ? ) at Garda to sail solo when his crew became ill, it was very noted that he went from top 3 to 17th. That was certainly an eye opener and in later discussions with SCHRS it was very apparant that even they consider that the duals have some advantage. But hey thats another story.

I did sail an A Class for the 2010 season just to learn the basics about mainsail control and have learnt a lot. However the A is no match for all the spinny boats at my club and for that reason have moved back to Bitsa. A single Uni sail cannot compete with the spinny boats in just one small part of the race, just as you transition from upwind to downwind. The spinny allows them to just slide slightly below you whislt you are trying to hot the A up onto one hull, at that point they are in control and you inevitably lose 1 or 2 places on every leg. The power of the new mains on the likes of the Hurricane 5.9's which predominate at my club, means they are a near match on the upwind legs which always means that you are slowly but surely going down the fleet. I think the very good guys are perhaps able though to sail the downwind legs on the A's far better than I, where the spinny on Bitsa at least gives you a chance to maintain your position.