How to Correctly Calculate Sailing Race Results

Sailboat racing usually involves handicapping elapsed time by a constant to adjust for different types of hulls.

Sailboat racing involves matching scores of many different types of water craft. Comparing the performance of different types of sailboats in the same race needs an adjustment factor, that converts the actual elapsed time to a weighted (or corrected) elapsed time. People who are tabulating and judging the results of a sailboat race need to be able to give corrected times for all participants in a race.

Things You'll Need

• Racing Results
• Ratings for ships in the handicapping system used

Instructions

Portsmouth Yardstick Handicapping

1. Record the elapsed time for all participants in the race.

2. Multiply each participant's times by the scale used -- 100 in the United States or , 1,000 in the United Kingdom.

3. Divide the result by the hull type's handicap. Hull type handicaps are adjusted each year by the Royal Yachting Association in the UK and the Portsmouth Numbers Committee in the United States.

Small Catamaran Handicap Rating System (SCHRS)

1. Record the elapsed time for all participants in the race

2. Note the SCHRS class rating for each participant next to their time. This can be pulled from the SCHRS class ratings charts.

3. Divide the elapsed time by the class rating. This yields the corrected time.

References

• US Sailing: Portsmouth Yardstick
• Royal Yachting Association: Portsmouth Yardstick
• SCHRS: SCHRS System and Rules