Forum: The Racing Rules of Sailing
Handicap change
Mike Forbes
Certifications:
- National Judge
0
In a race series for handicap yachts..... if the handicaps are reviewed and some changed within the dates of the race series, should the handicaps be "frozen" at the date of entry to the series, the date of the first race, or not changed for the series at all?
Comments
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My feeling is that the Handicaps for a series should be frozen at the date of the first race, or possibly at the date entries close. The NOR would state that the series was under a particular Hcap system, and the correction factors would be available to all competitors before entry.
Changing the Hcaps during a series would change the NOR "contract"?
IMO, it doesn’t matter what makes a cert invalid .. the end result is the same.
If we are talking about a series longer than a regatta .. then I think Case 57 directs us to score each race based on the good-faith knowledge of the current valid rating certificate at the time. Any completed race or series previously scored in good-faith, stands, but going forward, in an incomplete series, you keep the races previously scored and change rating mid-series if the owner has knowledge that his rating has changed.
That’s how I read 57.
Here's another posit... If a race starts at 1030 and a revised rating certificate is issued at 1100 on the same day, which rating should apply for that race? This seems to challenge the qualification of a "completed race".
In my (extremely) hypothetical example, I would expect that if a race is started with one rating and sailed to completion, that rating should stand regardless of a mid-race re-issue of the certificate. However, if the race is abandoned and resailed, then the new rating would apply. At issue is where in the race process the rating is "applied". I would say it's applied at registration (or the start of racing) rather than upon post-race scoring.
Counterpoint: If an owner makes a change to his boat and he sails a race with the new configuration (maybe it's a permanent change that he cannot "undo" for one race) but the new rating certificate has not yet been processed, then what rating should be used? The "fairest" solution for all might be to rescore the race when the new rating arrives (particularly for a long series).
RRS 78.2 addresses some of these issues.
"...hard pressed to find software..." James, I am aware of scoring apps on both sides of this fence. If this actually becomes an issue, you have to do your homework to find the best app!
Something not addressed by either Case 57 or my example is what happens if a ratings change affects the class assignments. That's a whole other can of worms!
A boat knowingly making a change to a boat should apply for an updated certificate/rating PRIOR to making the change and racing in the new config. They must keep/race-under the old configuration/cert until the new cert is issued.
A boat can have more than 1 certificate/rating, depending upon the config. Many J105’s have a PHRF rating in our OD config (110% jib and 84sq-m spin) and a 2nd in a max-PHRF config (150 Genoa and 110 sq-m spin). So a boat contemplating a change should wait to make the change.
Its easily done in Sailwave. I'd be surprised if its not possible in the other major systems.
Going back to the original question I suppose 90.3(c) comes into it at one extreme, since if a rating were incorrectly entered into the scoring system because of a typo I submit that would be scoring incorrectly. Towards the other end we have Case 57. How would you folk see Case 57 if the rating authority determined it had made a serious error and issued a valid looking certificate with say the rating for the wrong boat or configuration? Is there such a thing as an improper action by the Rating Authority for which redress would be available?
We use SailWave and it handles it perfectly.
If you wanted to do otherwise I believe you would need to specify it in the NoR.
Kett Cummins
Said Created: Sat 15:17
I don't see any problem here. A race in progress is not completed.
Angelo Guarino
Agree
"Prior to making the change "
No rule says that.
That's not going to work where the new rating requires measurement.
Yup, and IRC has now replaced the Two Handed certificate with an option to have two certificates.
Its up to OA to require entrants to declare which certificate they want to race under, unless they require submission of certificates with entries.
What? Competitor tells the OA/RC the cheque's in the mail and they switch off rule 78.1?
Very risky and as I said above creates uncertainty for other competitors.
What some OA do is to freeze ratings say 72 hours before the first starting time. It's then up to competitors to manage around this.
It seems reasonable to me that if a boat doesn't have a current valid certificate that an RC could choose to give a temporary rating, and then use their power to correct scores once a correct rating is available.
Pragmatically surely we want boats to be rated as accurately as possible for each race they compete in. Isn't it better that ratings should change mid series than ratings should be locked to a known incorrect value or modified boats banned from competing?
I agree with both of your comments, but they are at odds with each other! Yes, the other competitors (and the subject competitor himself!) have the right to know what the ratings are. But then you point out that a race in progress is not yet completed, so the "new" rating would apply to the scoring phase. If that's the case, then no one would know what the rating is during this race. Hence my supposition that whatever rating is applied at the start of a race should apply through the finish and scoring of that race.
Admittedly, this is an extremely hypothetical example.
Yes! That's exactly what I'm suggesting. Would it not produce the fairest result in the race? (Accurate ratings applied and such) You may be assuming that there is some nefarious motive involved, but that's not necessarily the case. What if the handicapper's server crashed? Do you tell the competitor that he can't sail?
The 'right to know the rating' implies that the rating should be known from the start of the race, that is the appropriate rating and certificate is the one valid at the start of the race.
Case 57 expressly forbids any change in scorin as a result of a change in rating after a race is complete.
It doesn't address what happens when the certificate changes during the race.
If the race committee adopted the new certificate, issued at 1100, that would mean that from 1030 to 1100 the boat was breaking rule 78.1. So whatever her rating, it doesn't matter.
OA makes a late change to the NOR to accomodate a single boat?
Given the allegations of rating shenanigans that are always flying about, that has at least the appearance of favouritism.
Can th OA confidently say they made the change giving adequate notice as required by rule 89.2(b)?
What about the potential competitor who didn't enter because they weren't confident they could get a new certificate in time?
You get fair racing when you require competitors to comply with the rules everyone knows about, not so much when you tinker with the rules to facilitate competitors playing acey deucy with their ratings.
Case 57 clearly says an improper act or omission by a rating authority is not the responsibility of the OA/RC and does not give grounds for redress. This is just one of the myriad errors, omissions and inconveniences that boats can't get redress for. It's a 'rub of the green ' thing.