THE RACE SCORING SYSTEM AND PRIZES

THE RACE SCORING SYSTEM
The system of scoring points for the races at Strand has evolved over many years. This is how it works. Each time you sail in a points race you are competing for three or perhaps four prizes simultaneously:
The Handicap Cup
The Class Cups (Big Boats and Little Boats)
The Polly Prize
The Strand Senior Salver

The scoring systems for the Handicap Cup and the Class Cups are the same: three points for a win; two for coming second; and one for coming third. In the Polly Prize you get one point for competing and an additional point for every boat you beat (so the winner gets as many points as there are qualifying competitors). If you are a Polly qualifier but retire, you get half a point. The score, in all Cups, is attached to the boat rather than to the helmsman.
The Officer of the Day times every lap (or the whole race for C or D courses) and the Master of Sums then adjusts the actual time (either for the whole race or the average lap time according to the Burton Rules, see below) by three types of handicap factors. These reflect, amongst other things, the inherent speed of the particular class of boat, but a different factor is used for each Prize as follows:

The Handicap Cup
The aim of the Handicap Cup is to give keen sailors with less experience or aggression a chance to compete on even terms with their more determined or skilful rivals.The handicap is changed for each race according to how well you did in the last one. If you come first, second or third your handicap decreases, making it harder for you to win next time. Your handicap goes down four points if you win, three points if you come second and two points for third. If you fail to score (that is, you don't come in the first three or if you start but retire) your handicap is increased by one point.
When a new boat/helmsman starts at Strand the boat is given a standard handicap according to its class (Laser, Enterprise etc.) related to the Portsmouth Yardstick. This is called the Strand Yardstick.
At the start of each season the handicaps of regular sailors / boats are adjusted so that their starting handicap reflects how well they did in the past season but does not put them at too great an advantage or disadvantage over new boats. The actual calculation is a product of the imagination and judgement of the Master of Sums.

The Class Cups
There are two Class Cups: one for Big Boats (longer than 12 feet) and one for Little Boats. The handicap used is the Strand Yardstick, which stays unchanged throughout the season.

The Polly Prize
The Polly Prize was instigated by Olly Taylor and was intended to be run on IYRA rules on a Portsmouth Yardstick, so that Strand would have one prize comparable with the norm of other clubs (PY + Olly = POLLY, not to be confused with a notorious Vagabond of the same name).In order to compete in the Polly Prize a boat designed to be two handed must be sailed with a crew. Insistence on this rule is intended to encourage the use of novices (and possible future helmsmen) as crews.

The Strand Senior Salver
This was first presented by Paul Williamson in 1998 to helms who are aged sixty or over. The winner is the qualifying helm that has the highest aggregate score in the other three points series.

The best of fourteen
At the end of the season your accumulated points for each prize are adjusted to include only the best fourteen results in each series. The aim is to encourage people to sail as often as possible but to prevent the prizes going exclusively to those who can attend every Sunday. There are, on average, 28 points races during the season so that, in effect, boats are expected to be able to sail every other week. This season (2002) there were fewer points races because of the training races held in the early season, so best of 14 will be less relevant.

The Burton Rules
In times of yore the OOD had to estimate how many laps could be completed within a reasonable time on A or B courses: 8 for big boats; 5 for little boats or some such. This sometimes meant that big boats finished in half an hour on a brisk day (frustrating) or that little boats never completed their quota before the tide changed (equally frustrating). With a characteristic flash of insight John Burton suggested the system now used for A and B courses: all boats compete for roughly the same length of time and their average lap time is used in the calculation of results.

The recommended procedure is for the OOD to finish the leading boat after about one hour and then finish all other boats as they cross the line, regardless of how many laps each boat has completed.

Strand Yardstick
The Strand Yardstick (SY) is related to, but not exactly equivalent to, the Portsmouth Yardstick (PY). The SY was in use at Strand before the PY came into use and is expressed in a different form from the PY.

The PY is a number such as 1166 (for an Enterprise) that is used to calculate a percentage of the 'real' time as follows:

Real time x 1000/PY = adjusted time
eg. 60mins x 1000/1166 = 51.46mins

The SY on the other hand, is a number such as 5 (for an Enterprise) that is also used to calculate a percentage, but as follows:
Real time x (100 - SY)/100 = adjusted time
eg. 60mins x (100-5)/100 = 60mins x 0.95 = 57mins

The significant difference is that the SY is progressively increased to the benefit of little boats reflecting their relative disadvantage in the curious tide and wind conditions of Strand. A Vagabond, for instance, has a 3% advantage over a Laser in its SY relative to its PY.

THE PRIZES

Prizes are awarded as follows:
Handicap Cup:
First prize: Silver Cup Second prize: Silver Cup Third prize: glass
Class Cup, Big Boats:
First prize: Silver Cup Second prize: glass
Class Cup, Little Boats:
First prize: Silver Cup Second prize: glass
Polly Prize:
First prize: Silver Boat Second prize: glass Third prize: glass
Strand Senior Salver First Prize: Silver Salver
First Race:First prize: Pewter tankard
Waterloo Cup:First prize: Pewter tankard
Long Distance Race:First prize: Medal
Last Race:First prize: Pewter tankard
Ladies Plate:First prize: Plate (presented by commodore) plus silver trophy; Second prize: glass
Third prize: glass
Paul's Prize for Persistence (short title):
Trophy given by Paul Williamson and awarded to the helm who has sailed most and yet not won a prize

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