Different Lap Count on a Fixed Course.

Lap Racing on a Fixed Course / Course Specific Handicaps

There are a number of Keelboat clubs that have small fleets with a wide variety of speeds within their competitors. In the case of a fleet of Multihulls this can realistically be a speed difference of up to 2 to 1.

By having the different competitors complete a different number of laps you can provide very fair racing by allow all competitors to race for approximately the same length of time, on the same piece of water under the same conditions. If the course can be configured to have the start line in the same place as the finish line AND to have each lap the same type e.g. all triangles or all windward returns, then different laps for different competitors will work well and provides a valid relative handicap between all competitors. See TopYacht HELP: Different Laps for Different Competitors.

BUT some clubs wish to have the start line in a different position to the finish line. A common variation is to start below the bottom mark and finish above the top mark.

Can this type of course also provide meaningful results and develop meaningful handicaps if different competitors complete different numbers of laps??

I believe the answer is “Yes” but with the caution that the handicaps so developed are only relevant to that particular course and a consistently used number of laps for each competitor. So if “SlowBoat” takes 60 minutes to complete a lap while the “FastBoat” takes only 30 minutes then using the same course configuration (beat length can alter) you can provide sensible results if SlowBoat does a nominal 2 laps while FastBoat does 4 laps each time they race.

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