US club class definition

I have avoided participation in handicap yacht racing events for over 20 years, but returned to sail with an old friend on his 33 foot boat in Michigan last summer for a few "handicap" races. My wife wanted to go sailing, so I agreed. It's always fun to go sailing on a nice afternoon. Other than these few times last summer, I have vigorously refused invitations based on my feelings about handicap racing. For my friend, the local handicap committee had hammered him so badly that he had already sold the boat. It was comical and a fun conversation. But the experience has some potential lessons surrounding it.

When the boat was delivered (4 year old design from England) a rating was formally requested. My friend had been out of sailing for awhile but was a former top sailor, last winning several season championships and many regattas before leaving the sport for roughly 10 years ago to focus on his young kids. The initial handicap estimate (before buying, via casual conversation with the handicap committee head and based on other popular boats which rated equal with it in England) was reasonable, so my friend felt comfortable (huge mistake) that the boat would have a competitive chance despite the usual handicap fear "tax" that is commonly added by corrupt local handicap committees to top sailors boats based on their skill as sailors.

So my friend decided to buy the boat and return to the sport in order to introduce his kids to sailing and take friends and family out for daysails. The boat was designed for the Solent (England, strong winds) and was overly stable (very heavy keel bulb with a smaller sail plan) for the generally light air conditions of the Great Lakes. But for my friend this would also provide a very stable sailing platform for teaching (not frightening) his kids. Very heavy boats generally get a small break on handicaps in the Great Lakes for this reason (uncompetitive)

So he invested 120k (a major investment for my friend) including some normal maintenance and shipped the boat to MI from England. Then the real "fun" began! Word got out and other owners clearly started getting nervous. A bunch of geniuses sat around a table at some yacht club, otherwise known as the "handicap committee annual meeting" (drinking cheap beer to embolden their "wisdom") and decided to give my friends boat a rating that was equivalent to modern 40+ boats with waterlines over 20% longer (think wingspan). They just pulled this rating out of thin air based on their "view" of what "believed" and not the enormous amount of VPP (velocity prediction program) data available (objective) showing the boats performance (vs other similar boats) at all wind speeds and angles, accurate to .001 knots! This boat was going to be a "good boat" but was not going to be "over performing" its waterline limitations in the slightest. In fact, it probably underperforms slighly in most conditions due to its extreme weight (nearly 12,000 pounds, which is very heavy for a 33 ft racing sailboat). The rating the committee enacted for my friend was ridiculous. It was clearly based on their fear of my friends sailing skill, not the boats performance. The rating was roughly 25% too strong and was an apparent effort to ensure that my friend was unable to compete. This proved true except for one of the races I attended and due to a tactical miracle. The boat performed exactly like a similar 33 footer but owed an extra 15-20 seconds a mile.

Of course, the handicap committee meeting included many of my friends "future competitors" (what a shock, eh?). All kinds of bogus "research" (see personal fantasy) was submitted by several of the other yacht owners explaining how fast (over embellished to say the least) this 4 year old English yacht design "might" be in. Of course they asked the committee to provide a ridiculous rating, strongly in their favor, which assumed all their "research" (counter to VPP data) was accurate. And of course the committee, desperate to win themselves as always, accommodated the subjective opinions of the other frightened competitors and approved a rating that turned heads globally per it's obvious incompetence and/or corruption. Personal opinion built the rating, not objective data. But the committee, uncomfortable with such attention, just didn't care about anything other then their own small world and potential to win $4 flags, and they stayed hidden under their rocks unwilling to budge.

This is the way, for the most part, that the handicap game has been played for 40 years (in sailing). Cheating, lying, manipulation and good old boy influence drives the handicap list. It's more a game of who you know on the committee (orngetting on it yourself) and of leveraging who you know to your personal advantage (hmm, sounds somewhat familiar...but I just can't place it...). I find such handicap processes to be shameful, ridiculous, disgusting and corrupt.

Of course, after conversation with the family and only half a season of sailing, my friend sold his new boat (nice profit) and reinvested the money in other family activities with absolutely no regrets. He was relieved to be out of that ugly system of corruption and bad sportsmanship. This was a moment of clarity for him, and for many around him. The fact that he knows not to be involved, ever again, was worth the hassle and will pay dividends to his family for years to come in terms of where to spend their time and money. It was a teachable moment. ;-). It was also a shame.

And they (the big boat handicap racing community) wonder why their "big boat" fleet has eroded by nearly 50% in the past 20 years. The corrupt, self serving process by which the handicaps are subjectively "determined." The scenario above is also quite common.

Of course small one design racing (boats of higher performance and a fraction of the cost) is growing as a result of this consistently ridiculous committee behavior, as is cruising boat sailing to some extent (people who like sailing with friends and family but have abandoned handicap racing entirely, allowing them to invest in more comfortable boats).

In my opinion handicaps are a poison to sport and should be avoided at all cost. And there seem to be similarities in soaring.

This is why I don't compete in sports class. Everyone knows what gliders are required to compete (or to have an advantage). This tells us immediately that existing handicaps are somewhat flawed. Any pilot should be equally competitive in any glider. That's the point, right? If that's not the case then their is more work to do, no? So why has this not been solved? See the Duo Discus for Sports or the Standard Cirrus for Club. We all know what certain gliders are considered to have the best handicaps. Of course a dry 18m ASG29 is generally considered to be uncompetitive. If able, ASG29 pilots use 15m for a more favorable handicap. But flapped ships are generally not competitive in sports class. An LS8 is often considered ideal. That's a problem to be solved, is it not? Yet it remains. Or, why is there no handicap for an FES equipped glider. Clearly FES results in significant additional drag vs the pure glider. Studies say 2-4%. These are simple facts. Unfortunately, as with sailing, glider handicaps are not based on facts and data but instead on some level of subjective opinion which influences or acts to retain them as is, even if obviously flawed. Ridiculous. Why is this allowed to continue?

Anyway enough about this. Handicaps are, IMO, really bad news. Imperfect and impure. I just thought I would mention why I, for one, have no interest in handicap soaring (or sailing) "competition."

If more effort was put into recognizing and solving this problem, I might change my opinion but I'm not holding my breath.