My crusade to establish a proper Parker 275 yardstick went into overdrive last weekend. We had our annual jolly Nat West sponsored race from Exe to Dartmouth and forty boats came along. I was in the Fast fleet with all the rocket ships like J109 Laser 28 and so on. My handicap was the PSSA 986 but to my surprise the other Parker which was Chris Cookes Dragonfly Parker 31 was on 990 and I was expected to beat him on the water. Needless to say I didn't. The calculations would suggest the 275 should be somewhere around 1050 but has anyone got any other evidence I can use? I am trying hard to sort this out before the Dartmouth Regatta. Trouble is my club mates just tell me I am not a very good sailor whch may of course be true.

Kate

---

Christchurch SC has my 21 at 1047 and I find it quite hard to keep up with the 27s and 275s (sailing to around 1000) on the water especially if it's blowing a bit. The 31 we have here has to sail to 892

Geoff

PY is in my experience a complete lottery and in the mind of all of us who have "suffered" at the hands of a handicap committee, or been seen off by some apparent rating "bandit" designed to raise blood pressure and cause angst!
You must remember it's designed to be a performance handicapping system. It presupposes a perfect race sailed by the most competent crew.
Local handicaps cause so much trouble that no less than Cowes Week have abolished their LH classes this year and insist on all entrants rating IRC.I think they have done a deal with the RORC for an even simpler calculation than the normal.
Having sailed regattas for years under both systems I would suggest you get an Endorsed IRC rating, and forget the awful vagaries of local handicap.

If however there is no option then:

Make sure you make good starts-
Have the best sails you can afford-
Practice until your crew is really slick-
Know the Rules-
Keep your bottom clean and all your gear in tip-top order-

Then you will know that if you get your conditions, you make no mistakes, you have a modicum of luck--and you still finish down the pan--that its the handicap not you!!!

---

If you look at www.byronsoftware.org.uk/bycn/byboat.htm  you will find the 275 at 1045 with a two-bladed fixed prop and the 325 at 925 on the same basis. Lose 20 points for a folding or feathering whisk.The 21 is on 1072.
The SS 26 is still shown @ 986.

Bearing in mind the design(s) have clearly put on weight in the last 25 years this may be the right order of magnitude of difference, but still begs the question of whether or not the basic premise of performance is roughly correct to start with!

---

Surely the Parker 275 at 1045 must be an error or must be for a boat without a spinnaker as i thought the various forms of the 27 / 26 were all of the same.
i am off 1035 without a spinny with a fixed two blade which i dont think is a million miles away from what it should be.

But where does the "standard" handicap figure of 986 come from? It appears to be from the PSSA! I also suspect that 986 derives from the earliest boats. Remember the design has put on lots of weight . The displacement of the SS26 is quoted at about 5250 lbs--but the 275/285 at 7100lbs. That must have an impact on performance. SO, if 986 is right for the early (light) SS 26, then 1025 may very well be right for the larger and less svelte 275.

---

Also the design of the SS26 is different from the later boats. I recall the 26 is a Ron Holland design and the 275 hull was redrawn by Bill Parker and looks completely different. I have standing headroom and lots more ballast.
Last night I got a flying start, sailed really well with a crack crew and a newly scrubbed bottom and got 400 yards ahead of the 26. After I led the the upwind half of the race he came back at me flew past with his spinnaker up and led the fleet home while I trailed in at the back - hero to zero.... not helped by hitting a mark! It was good fun though. We had 3 PSSA boats racing in a fleet of 24.

Kate

---

I always find not making mistakes the hardest part!!
Did the SS26 get past when you hit the mark, or was he just faster downwind?
If the latter then it sounds right,'cos being lots lighter he should be quicker on that point of sailing, whereas weight is not so important/detrimental upwind.

---

Hitting the mark was later on in the race [:I]. He just had the legs of me downwind as you suggest! I have persuaded the Club to give me a trial Club number of 1016 for the Dartmouth Regatta so look forward to seeing how that works out.

Kate

---