Handicap for Bavaria 30 Cruiser

[Trapeze Artist]

The Byron (PY) handicap I have been given is 995 (that's 945 plus an allowance for no spinnaker and a fixed prop). I get slaughtered in every race, no matter how well we think we sailed. I know everyone thinks they have a bad handicap, but does anyone else have experience of racing a Bav 30 to this handicap system? How were your results?

Should I send in all the boat details to Byron and see if they come up with the same figure, or would that be wasting my time?

As everyone seems to think the standard Elvstrom sails are rubbish, what might I gain if I got new sails? The genoa in particular seems pretty poor, though I don't have a lot of experience to draw conclusions with. I recently sailed on a Dufour 34 also with Elvstroms and the genoa was much better (it was a radial cut).

[Cdogg]

Hi,
I don't race but my B30c came with a Clyde Cruising Club handicap:
FINAL MIN/Hr 17.00 TFC 0.717 (TOTAL ALLOWANCE 0.50)

I hope this is of interest. I have the standard factory fit sails, no spinnaker and a fix 2-blade prop.   I have no idea what any of the handicap means, but maybe it will tell you something. A sister ship of mine races regularly with the same handicap and claims he does quite well!

[Trapeze Artist]

Thanks Cdogg. I've had a look at the Clyde handicap system and I think I can see what it's doing. The "0.717" number looks like a reciprocal of a Byron/PY number, and using a very different datum. I've just tried relating the Clyde handicap to Byron for a couple of other boats that I can remember and it all seems to add up similar to the Bav 30. I'll get hold of a list of handicaps from our club later in the week and then try the comparison on a lot more boats. At the moment unfortunately it doesn't look like I have any particular reason to complain.