Chris Sprout has bought the Viper he sailed at Mumbles in 2008.

But Eric you and I know you are a better sailor after all you were the babe of a very good sailor and have sailed all your life, I have only recently started to sail cats.

You also know that I think the sail area we have is too much for the single hander and the next sail I buy will be equal to yours and then we go head to head ( and I reckon you should still beat me as experiance counts for so much in sailing ) .

The Viper was Chris Sproat who normally sails a Spitfire, a very very good sailor and he should do well.

Think about it this way.

When do the Single handers struggle?

I'm faster than similar skilled F18 sailors up to about F4, at that point I run out of hands and wiring down wind becomes more difficult and so I am less competitive.

How much wind do you USUALLY sail in, what % is over F4? I'd wager not much unless you live in an area where it ALWAYS blows.

I'm comparable down wind with similar skilled Tornado's; again struggling >F4 as sailing down wind gets too busy.


We also need to be honest with ourselves as to our skill level and where in the F18 fleet we might be; REMEMBER SCHRS is rating the boat, so the BEST sailor should win when the wind is constant.

But also remember boats have sweet spots.

I'm going to be watching the F18's carefully this year as Chris Field has a guest appearance. He was 4th at the A class Euro's; where will he get on on an F18?

Simon Northrop is a good sailor and just won th ECPR from William, who is also a damn good sailor; in fact there was a fair spread of skill at the ECPR. But there was some top notch sailors, that I would NOT expect to beat.

We are again looking at SCHRS with a view to some updates. If you have some CONSTRUCTIVE ideas that are feasable please email your proposal me. I cannot guarantee it will be included, but I will review ALL constructive emails.

"If you have some CONSTRUCTIVE ideas that are feasable please email your proposal me. I cannot guarantee it will be included, but I will review ALL constructive emails."

There's the real problem with any handicap system. One guy annoints himself as God.

You don't know Simon: he is God

And to be fair, Simon doesn't decide. The SCHRS committee does, and it's not just Simon.

I've sailed on a Hurricane a couple of weeks ago. The differences at a top mark rounding without launching a spi:

- Single: I have to round the mark, ease the main sheet, release the traveler a bit. 3 controls: 2 hands. All that from the wire. 10-15 seconds.

- Double: We have to round the mark, ease the main sheet, release the traveler a bit, ease the jib. 4 controls, 4 hands. 5 seconds.

Same thing at the low mark.

What about a tack? Well:

- single: I have to round, get in, sheet out a bit, get back on the wire, sheet in again. 2 control, 2 hands. Plus a wire swap.

- Double: Round, no need to sheet out as the jib will pull you out (jib's on self tacker, nothing to do). 1 controls, 4 hands.

Add a spi and the nightmare begins:

Single: Sheet out main, ease traveler, head downwind, make sure lines are clear, let go of the tiller praying for no sudden gusts, pull spi up, grab tiller, sheet in main, maybe traveler, sheet in spi. Too many things to do, not enough hands.

Double: add two hands, and maybe sheeting out two inches of jib. Boat is under complete control while the spi is going up with someone holding the main and the tiller.

Anything goes wrong on the boat? Line fouling? Need to tie a knot somewhere? Well, when solo you have to stop. Duo, you just send your slave^Wcrew to fix it while taking it easy but still screaming at 12 knots...

So yes, I think solo sailors are at a disadvantage. Not to mention that with a crew one can drive hard while the other can keep his eyes out for tactical moves.

Accounting for that in the rating? I'm not sure it's possible. How do you quantify it?

Ah, but he is the one speaking arbitrarily.

If SCHRS rates the boat, how does it account for the jib/self tacker vs no jib?

There is always room for improvement in any system which is imperfect. Unattainable perhaps, but desirable none the less.

The Jib is factored as it changes the sail area of the boat and is an additional sail.

As Eric states, the SCHRS group operate as a group. We discuss things and then form a consensus and then things change. We spend a massive amount of time on rule management and development. I had a couple of meetings this weekend regarding suggestions to improve the rating rule, I am now going to write a paper on it and submit it to the group for discussion. Once that discussion has taken place, if a consensus is reached we will then propose some amendments to the rule.

We added "righting moment" to the rule last time we changed it; essentially it means that boats with 2 crew get hit harder as they have more RM them can move around. This helps the single handers.

I appreciate all the hard work. Thank you.

It depends on who the single hander is. If we have been a while off the boat every line on mine and a few from other boats ends up wrapped around my ankles. When I single my techniques to maintain boat speed while trimming the sails correctly are less than smooth. I would say that most of the sailors who race regularly have attained a level of proficiency where they could be considered "even" skill wise. They may however, get beat regularly and maybe by a lot because of what Pepin described. Simple smooth boat handling can easily be a boat length or 2 in each tack and 4-5 boat lengths around a mark. (Course 2, 6 legs, 6 roundings, ave 3 tacks/jibes per leg = easily 50 boat lengths) Most teams are not losing by nearly that much.

Boat only handicaps can not include every parameter like self tacker, winged masts etc because if they do, their gain or value is really dependant on the crew making them work. Adjustable things can make you quite a bit slower in reality just because you end up adjusting in stead of sailing.

Maybe we need a handicap scoring system based on teams; people and boat together. We used to use this in our old fleet in the midwest. Most of the guys were on H16 but it worked fine for the random 17, 20 or 18 who also raced. This way you have a personal handicap score that is tracked just like bowling or golf. You do well in an event and your rating drops. Unfortunately there are but a few of us racing these days, so compiling a start place would not be that difficult technically. Getting agreement as to any particular number for some individuals will be.

I didn't take my milk of magnesia last night so I was just giving Scooby a boot in the nutz. Seemed like the thing to do at the time.

Personally, I think handicap results make great data; they provide lots of consversations at the bar. But trophies need to be awarded on performanc i.e. you cross the line first, you win imo.

Milk of magnesia??

http://www.phillipsrelief.com/milk_of_magnesia.html

It's a joke.

What is given to small babies, by our mothers, to stop the babies crying when having "wind" problems.

Here it is widely touted for constipation, lots of TV commercials.

Seriously, laxative dependence can be a serious health problem. People are much better to keep hydrated, eat a high fiber diet and exercise. If you need a laxative, your body is trying to tell you something. Like, "it has stopped raining so go mow the grass."

Pictures are up.

Follow instructions here:

http://www.eastcoastpiersrace.com/

See Nick and I are famous, where was Scooby ???

ECPR09-257.jpg to pic ECPR09-263.jpg

Low res versions of images from the photographer.












Photo Credit Sally Hitt
The Moment Images.