The RYA have now come back to us with a set of Experimental PYs for the I14 sub classes, many thanks to Adam Parry for his efforts on this. The PYs had been derived from the dimensional data we sent them and their analysis of similar boats. The final handicaps are below:
Modern – 758 published on limited data list
Penultimate – 970
Classic – 978
Vintage – 1060
The areas which stand out are the following:
- The RYA’s numbers have put the Vintage Handicap slightly closer to the Classic Handicap (1060)
- The difference between the Classic and Penultimate 14s is closer than expected
- The Classic Handicap remained at the same value the RYA originally suggested last year (978)
In 2026, the plan is to run “ghost results” after each Vintage & Classic open meeting and review whether the PYs produce fair outcomes. We will use sailors’ feedback on how well the results matched conditions on the water—for example, whether the wind favoured Vintage or Classic boats and whether the handicap results reflected what happened.
The main challenge is the limited number of boats racing and the small number of events, which increases variability in the results. Ultimately, our goal is to be confident that a well-sailed boat will achieve a fair result.
To expand the data set, we have now rerun our original three historical race results for Blakeney, Grafham 2025 and POW 2024. And treated them as a ‘Traveller’ Series to give an indication of how the season would have been scored under these new handicaps.
Results for Blakeney:
Results for Grafham 2025:
Results for POW 2024
Overall Historical Results
Items of interest:
- ‘Series’ was won by a Vintage boat, even including a discard
- There is a mixture of boat types across all events with a good mix of Vintage and Classic boat in the top three in the individual races
Start of the 2026 Season-
Rickmansworth Open Meeting
“The weather for Ricky was best described as light variable with some exciting moments” – James Vaughan
Note that in order get comparable timings we have had to modify the timings of boats which did not complete the total number of laps. Using the following formula: (FinishTime/Number completed laps)*Max number laps = Full race time.
Individual Race Results
Overall Results
Items of interest:
- Not finishing races has had a big impact on the overall results
- Good mix of results and positions
- With one discard 201 (Vintage) came second overall
What we would like to know:
- Feedback from the sailors
- Do you feel the handicaps are giving fair results
- Would you like to see 2026 events, including POW, scored using the handicaps based on these results
- Freebooter Upwind Tuning
- Freebooter – Two sail reach in 16-20 knots of wind
- Data Driven Decision Making – I14 Handicaps – The RYA’s response and the Rickmansworth results
- Classic I14 – Where we are & how we got here – The Mast
- Data Driven Decision Making – How to develop a fair handicap for all 14s, especially those in the Vintage and Classic fleets
One Comment on “Data Driven Decision Making – I14 Handicaps – The RYA’s response and the Rickmansworth results”
Really interesting “Leveller”. It could encourage a broad range of older boats to participate. Although the sample is small, there is some strength in the argument to use handicap. I look forward to extensions to the few events, as we seek to maximise enjoyment of sailing these lovely old boats. Thanks “Bear” for this work!