How the Next Handicap is Calculated.

← Back

Background

This article is confined to performance handicapping.

Measurement handicaps (ratings), Yard Sticks, Class-based Handicaps and SMS are excluded.

To some folk, the handicapping of yachts is is akin to a black art or magic.

While there are different mathematical algorithms available, they all have a basic concept in common.

These include

  • Establishing a mark boat;
  • Computing a Back Calculated Handicap from the corrected time of the mark boat and elapsed time of each of the other competitors;
  • Performing some form of sanity checking (clamps and limits) to create a CBCH (Clamped Back-Calculated Handicap);
  • then using a portion of the CBCH to modify the original Allocated Handicap (AHC) to give a CHC (Computed Handicap) for the next race;

Click HERE to download the document (~15 Pages)