Average Lap Racing is a way of providing fairer racing for boats of
different types and particularly when they have considerable differences
in speed potentials.

As a result of requests for more details I have put "Stuart's Guide to
Average Lap Racing" up on my website www.threlkeld.org.uk.

Just follow the link in the Sailing section of the home page (probably
have to scroll down a short way)

It is un-modified from the original paper written in 1998 and I will
update it during 2007, but it will give anyone what they need to know
provided they read it in conjunction with the current RRS

Stuart.

Stuart Cresswell wrote:

> Average Lap Racing is a way of providing fairer racing for boats of
> different types and particularly when they have considerable differences
> in speed potentials.
>
> As a result of requests for more details I have put "Stuart's Guide to
> Average Lap Racing" up on my website [..].
>
> Just follow the link in the Sailing section of the home page (probably
> have to scroll down a short way)
>
> It is un-modified from the original paper written in 1998 and I will
> update it during 2007, but it will give anyone what they need to know
> provided they read it in conjunction with the current RRS
>
> Stuart.


good luck getting it taken up... the lads in our club who've got fast boats
don't like average lap racing as it means they're less likely to win...
they enjoy going out for their quick three laps and back to hog the bar and
have no sympathy at all for the Mirror and Topper sailors still out there
doing their final lap and a half... they completely fail to understand why
slow boats can be finished ahead of them after two laps while they're on
their third or fourth...

Currently in our club, the only way for the slow boats to win is for the
wind to get right up just as the fast boats are finishing so the slow boats
can do their last lap and a half faster... unfortunately, because of the
way things have been set up (in the benefit of the fast boats), the pursuit
is started around lunchtime and the slow boats have to start in light winds
(the prevailing conditions here) and the points race is done in the
afternoon when the wind promptly fades as the fast boats are finishing.
(I've had to be towed back after becoming becalmed with the majority of the
fleet already propping up the bar... it's just not fair...)

You might also notice that the "fast" boats on our river are those that can
be easily pumped^H^H^H^H^H^Hroll-tacked. Albacores are particularly prized
for this ability... especially as the river is only 50 meters wide and so
roll-tacking makes a major difference in any winds.

There is only one way that average lap racing would be taken up and that is
for it to be made mandatory for handicap racing.

The message <2216662.ibu9a7WGYV>
from Paul Cooke <paul.cooke100> contains these words:

> good luck getting it taken up... the lads in our club who've got fast boats
> don't like average lap racing as it means they're less likely to win...
> they enjoy going out for their quick three laps and back to hog the bar and
> have no sympathy at all for the Mirror and Topper sailors still out there
> doing their final lap and a half... they completely fail to understand why
> slow boats can be finished ahead of them after two laps while they're on
> their third or fourth...

> Currently in our club, the only way for the slow boats to win is for the
> wind to get right up just as the fast boats are finishing so the slow boats
> can do their last lap and a half faster... unfortunately, because of the
> way things have been set up (in the benefit of the fast boats), the pursuit
> is started around lunchtime and the slow boats have to start in light winds
> (the prevailing conditions here) and the points race is done in the
> afternoon when the wind promptly fades as the fast boats are finishing.
> (I've had to be towed back after becoming becalmed with the majority of the
> fleet already propping up the bar... it's just not fair...)

> You might also notice that the "fast" boats on our river are those that can
> be easily pumped^H^H^H^H^H^Hroll-tacked. Albacores are particularly prized
> for this ability... especially as the river is only 50 meters wide and so
> roll-tacking makes a major difference in any winds.

> There is only one way that average lap racing would be taken up and that is
> for it to be made mandatory for handicap racing.

Paul

How dog-in-the-manger and short-sighted can they get.

I assume that the committee all sail fast boats and like the privilege
of hogging the bar.

It seems that the slow boat owners need to get together and pack the
committee next time round.

Seriously though your club should read the RYA Racing Charter which
requires the club to provide fair racing - and if that includes handicap
racing that means that both the mechanism of racing and the handicaps
must be as fair as possible on your waters.

Adjustment of handicaps and Average Lap Racing are two steps towards
fair handicap racing.

Stuart

On 12 Mar, 22:03, Paul Cooke <paulcooke>
wrote:

> they enjoy going out for their quick three laps and back to hog the bar and
> have no sympathy at all for the Mirror and Topper sailors still out there
> doing their final lap and a half...

Ok, but how much sympathy did the Enterprises, Mirrors and Comets have
for the faster boats on the startline and in the early minutes of the
race? I used to race a fireball in a club with a good measure of the
'pointing classes' (Enterprise, Graduate) - how many of those do you
think let us through into clear air? It's a race - nobody who thinks
they finish well is going to help the opposition.

> Currently in our club, the only way for the slow boats to win is for the
> wind to get right up just as the fast boats are finishing so the slow boats
> can do their last lap and a half faster... unfortunately, because of the
> way things have been set up (in the benefit of the fast boats), the pursuit
> is started around lunchtime and the slow boats have to start in light winds
> (the prevailing conditions here) and the points race is done in the
> afternoon when the wind promptly fades as the fast boats are finishing.
> (I've had to be towed back after becoming becalmed with the majority of the
> fleet already propping up the bar... it's just not fair...)

It's not all one way. As you know, the wind will always fill in from
upwind so on downwind legs the slow boats catch the gust early and
completely destroy the lead the faster boats have worked for. Sailing
will never be totally fair because the power source is fickle and
conditions will have a dramatic effect on results. Handicap racing is
probably the unfairest of the lot. (Look at the last Fastnet & RTI
races.) If winning is important I guess you need a faster boat for
where you sail. IME over the series the best sailors do tend to win.
Personally I just bought boats I enjoyed and let the results worry
about themselves. (If you're not a total dingbat and able to sail
every week you're going to get your name on plenty of silverware in
the long run.)

> You might also notice that the "fast" boats on our river are those that can
> be easily pumped^H^H^H^H^H^Hroll-tacked. especially as the river is only
> 50 meters wide and so roll-tacking makes a major difference in any winds.

Ahhh, the obligatory cries of cheating from the losing boats. If
you're watching the other boats are you really focusing on your own
sailing? IME if someone accuses you of over enthusiastic tacking the
best thing to do is make the next one a _really_ big one. Better to
have them thinking about your tacking than their tactics. They never
seem to protest. I always used to laugh at boats with fully battened
rigs on the days when there was simply no wind. The power of the wind
alone wouldn't be enough to pop the battens onto the new side yet they
all managed to tack up. At any inland club on a silent still day all
you can hear is the silence broken by Thwump, Thwump, Thwump, Thwump
as they tack their way upwind.

I think the real lesson here is don't sail when there's f**k all wind
unless you really like pots.

Paul Cooke wrote:

>You might also notice that the "fast" boats on our river are those that can
>be easily pumped^H^H^H^H^H^Hroll-tacked. Albacores are particularly prized
>for this ability... especially as the river is only 50 meters wide and so
>roll-tacking makes a major difference in any winds.
>50 metres? FFS, that's a small inland sea! ;-)
Where I sail, the river's only half that width and because of the trees
on the bank, for much of it you have to sail within 5 metres of the
bank, ideally even closer.
To re-iterate Toad's point, if you care about winning, you either chose
the right boat for the venue or the right venue for the boat that you
want to sail. Here at Medley SC (on the Thames in Oxford), there is just
one Laser (rarely sailed) but 20+ British Moths which are wonderful
boats for the prevailing conditions, and get their own start for many of
the series. No one would dream of sailing a BM at the nearby Oxford SC,
or chose to go cup-hunting at MSC in a Laser. Having said that, a Topper
won the spring pursuit last year, one of the few "all boat" handicap
series that we have, so you just never know.

Stuart Cresswell wrote:

> The message <2216662.ibu9a7WGYV>
> from Paul Cooke <paul.cooke100> contains these
> words:
>>
>> Paul
>
> How dog-in-the-manger and short-sighted can they get.
>
> I assume that the committee all sail fast boats and like the privilege
> of hogging the bar.
>
> It seems that the slow boat owners need to get together and pack the
> committee next time round.

Difficult. There's a big clique where a lot of the members work for one guy
who's also a member and has several of his "cronies" on the committee...
Protests don't work either as it's impossible to get a fair protest
committee.

>
> Seriously though your club should read the RYA Racing Charter which
> requires the club to provide fair racing - and if that includes handicap
> racing that means that both the mechanism of racing and the handicaps
> must be as fair as possible on your waters.
>
> Adjustment of handicaps and Average Lap Racing are two steps towards
> fair handicap racing.
>

They refuse to adjust the handicaps... they only use the published ones...

Cruiser racing is different as handicaps evolve over time after having
initially set a trial figure based on waterline length, but we have no
river adjustment for dinghies at all or allowances for age of boat compared
to the rest of the fleet it's handicap is based against. We tried personal
handicaps a few years back but that died a death as the "wrong" people
started winning... it didn't appear on the racing calendar the next year.
Was a pity as a lot of people actually took part in it.