With my work on yacht racing results software I often get asked about yacht handicaps.  There is usually no easy answer to the questions posed.  However I have collected together a number of links to other sites that go into more detail.  Since I do my sailing in Scotland I have concentrated on links that are relevant, there is much more information available on the web - just use you favourite search engine.

Just a word of warning, for those searching through these lists to find a handicap for a particular type of yacht.  Most schemes produce a 'time multiplication faction' (TMF) that is used to convert the elapsed time to the corrected time.  The TMF is a relative number that is consistent within the scheme.  Different schemes may have different reference points so TMFs are not directly transferable between schemes.

Some of these links will change annually, if they stop working please let me know.  Please let me know if there are other sites providing useful information on yacht handicaps.

Royal Yachting Association

The handicap scheme the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) runs is the Portsmouth Yardstick scheme.  This is widely used in club racing for dinghies, multihulls and smaller keelboats.  It is based on calculating the relative performance of the boats sailing in may different conditions.  The RYA affiliated Yacht Clubs in the UK make annual returns to which are processed to give the Portsmouth Yardstick Number (PY).  General information on the scheme is available.  The current list of PY numbers are also available.

Forth Yacht Clubs Association

The PY Numbers are generalised for all types of sailing waters, the Forth Yacht Clubs Association (FYCA) do most of their sailing in a tidal estuary.  Also the majority of the FYCA sailing concerns keelboats.

Port Edgar Yacht Club

Although based on the Portsmouth Yardstick scheme, Port Edgar Yacht Club (PEYC) use a modified scheme that give individual yachts their own handicap.  Called a rolling handicap it has produced some very close club level series racing in the past few years.

Clyde Yacht Clubs' Association

Over on the west coast of Scotland the Clyde Yacht Clubs' Association (CYCA) do more one design racing but also publish handicaps for mixed racing.  Their handicaps are expressed differently as minutes in the hours but with a simple formula can be converted to a TMF. General information is available on the CYCA web site.

The formula to convert the CYCA handicaps is :
                TMF Handicap = (60 - CYCA Handicap) / 60

Offshore Racing Club and International Sailing Federation

The Offshore Racing Club (ORC) and International Sailing Federation (ISAF) both use (different) measurement based rules.  This is where a yacht is measured and weighted and this information put into a formula that produces a handicap.  These are more commonly used for international regattas.  Details can be found buy following the links - ORC and ISAF.