How handicap scoring works

Handicap scoring lets boats of different classes race against each other and be judged on how well they were sailed, not just on how fast the boat is. A Laser and a Finn sail at different speeds; without a handicap the faster boat always wins, and the race is a time trial. Handicaps fix that.

Corrected time

In a handicap race, the boat that finishes first has not necessarily won. Each boat's elapsed time, the time it actually took, is adjusted by its handicap rating to produce a corrected time. Boats are ranked by corrected time, and the lowest wins.

For Portsmouth Yardstick (PY), the adjustment is:

corrected time = elapsed time ÷ PY × 1000

For example, a boat with a PY of 1200 that takes 3600 seconds has a corrected time of (3600 ÷ 1200) × 1000 = 3000 seconds.

A PY of 1000 is the reference speed. A lower PY means a faster boat: 900 is about ten per cent faster than reference, 1100 about ten per cent slower. The formula credits the slower, higher-PY boats and adds time to the faster, lower-PY ones, so the boat that is sailed best for its class comes out on top.

Different handicap systems

Dockside supports more than one handicap system. Portsmouth Yardstick divides elapsed time by the rating, as above. Some systems, such as the international rating rules, multiply instead. You choose which one applies when you set an event's scoring to Corrected Time and pick a Handicap Type. See Run a handicap event.

Pursuit racing is the other way round

A pursuit race uses the same handicap numbers but applies them at the start rather than the finish, so the first boat across the line wins outright. See How pursuit scoring works.