Quick question, at the Nationals, Silver tiller etc do the boats race with any handicap? Or would my early 90s 'Tales compete equally against the latest design?
Cheers

The quick answer is; no, there is no handicapping for older boats at the Nationals or in the Silver Tiller and you compete for the overall competition on an equal basis. Looking at the Tenby results; Dan was 24th (3539), Mark was 50th(3442) and Andrew was 57th(3511).
Having said that; at the Nationals there is an "Old Boats" prize (10+) and in the Silver Tiller there are categories for "Prime of Life" (10 - 20) and Mature (21+). I believe there is an ongoing discussion and review of the age limits.
In previous years a "personal handicapping" system was also used for some prizes in the Nationals. At Tenby this system was shelved in favour of a simpler Gold and Silver flight. Please watch this space as there are also discussions in hand on how we will take this forward at Looe and whether we can extend the system to encompass older boats/encourage more mid-fleet boats to attend.
Please fill in the Champs Questionnaire (see separate thread) to let us know your thoughts on Nats attendance/structure.
Please be assured that you will be very welcome at Looe and that, whilst you will probably not be in the top half of the fleet, you will be very welcome and will still be sailing amongst strong competition even right down to the tail of the fleet. At Tenby, over 6 races, the average time difference between the first and last finishers was only 22 minutes.
Feel free to email me directly if you have any other queries.
Ian Mackenzie

I would suggest a review of the merlin handicap mechanism.  Check the N12 system which a constant number for a boat number range.  At present, for the Merlins, as the new ones get a new PY (998) the addition of an 'allowance', say 10 points, still means the boat has magically become relatively faster than when new.

How about we try using the PY at the time of construction, modified if the boat now changed to a carbon rig etc. Blithfield at Midland use a different number for the alloy/carbon set ups.

The main issue with using the PY at time of construction is that at any one time the current merlin PY is based on the entries from racing merlins. This will include new and old boats. So, the number for 2002 will include entries for boats racing in 2002, not just entries for boats built in 2002.

There are other classes out there (you all know the ones) where this lag effect in the PY number can be seen clearly, boats at the front get faster, but old boats are still out there racing and therefore moderate the PY changes.

Cheers all