Cherub yardstick ratings

[Banshee Ambulance]

Sorry, another Flat Stanley related question. It says on the site that Stanley should have a rating of 1050. Is this going to be fair given the rig I am going to be using and secondly, more importantly am I going to be eligible for racing at the Weston Skiff open which must have a 990 minimum to qualify? The rig will eventually be a 97 main, the existing jib, a 600 mast and a Laser 4000 kite for when I am feeling brave and the existing one for when I am not.

[ross_burkin]

FS is more than eligible for the skiff open. I sailed it last year off 1037 iirc which is crazy high but we didn't exactly race anyway, just charged around roughly in the right direction. We got some comments from some 49er sailors when we got off the water...something about not being able to keep up downwind 

[Phil Alderson]

The handicaps page is intended as a guide it lets people with older boats show club race officers what sort of handicap to use for racing that will be resnably fair considering the age and rig size of the boat they are sailing.

1050 is an OK number for boats of flat Stanley's age with a 1990's rig on. If you change the boat and put bigger rags on then it no longer has a 1990's rig so I would suggest a faster number.

1000 is the suggested number for fair racing for pre 97 rules hulls with 97 rules sails so I would go for that.

Having said that if you want you can suggest any handicap you want so for the skiff event you could say you have a handicap of 990 I do the same for the scottish skiffs and say I have a handicap of 930 which is their cut off point.

be careful not to hold up the racing and no one will complain

Phil

[Banshee Ambulance]

All I want is to be eligible to race at the Skiff Open as it is home turf! Even if it is a little out of line at the 990 cut off point. Would giving Flat Stanley a 990 yardstick be unreasonable?

[Phil Alderson]

It is hard to say but with some good sailors in the boat, and the rig properly sorted and working well and all the systems working well and effectively with a good wind, then sailing off 990 I think that mid fleet at the Skiff open would be an exceptional result.

If you are happy to sail the event and consider each boat you beat to be a victory then go for it as a learning experience.
If there is more than a F3 then at times you will go through the water down wind as quick as a good percentage of the fleet, however you will also spend a lot of time going much slower and often when you are going fast it will be in the wrong direction.

The boats are great fun but are extremely difficult to handicap race. Looking at the personal handicap for a recent nationals wining boat, over the coarse of 11 races there is a 219 point difference between the best and worst performance and one race has a performance of above 1000.
 

[daryl_wilkinson]

If its a skiff event will they be going in the wrong direction?

One would presume that it would be 'Windward Leeward' course and I would of thought that given good wind +F3 Flat Stanly should plain up wind and stay in contention and downwind be as fast as the majority AND going in the right direction.