Air Capitol MSCs RYGGed Starting System

(originally created and used by the Lee Valley MYC)

Is fall-out of newcomers a problem? Bored with the same members winning week after week? If so, you may find the relief from these issues by using the RYGGed Start a personal handicapping system designed to encourage beginners and add excitement back into club racing.

The Problem

Experienced RC sailors tend to forget that to newcomers, model yacht racing can appear a pretty daunting experience. This can be particularly true at the starting line, when anarchy and overcrowding readily overwhelms the beginner. As a result, the fall-out rate of newcomers can be very high.

To overcome this problem the Lee Valley Model Yacht Club introduced, in 1991, a personal handicapping system (the RYGGed Start) that was designed to:

• Relieve the beginner of the pressures of crowded starting lines, until such time as they are sufficiently experienced to cope.
• Give encouragement, by enabling some early wins and success.
• Eliminate the beginners proneness to hanging around well behind the starting line in order to avoid close contact sailing

The Solution: The RYGGed Start (Red/Yellow/Green/Go)

Every new or inexperienced member will be given the opportunity to be assigned a personal handicap based on past performance. Newcomers will automatically be granted a full handicap upon joining the club unless they are of proven ability as a result of past membership in another club.

The handicap granted shall indicate the number of seconds advantage that a sailor shall have at the start and shall be according to the following table:

Table 1

Handicap Color	Handicap Advantage
Red	30 seconds
Yellow	20 seconds
Green	10 seconds
No Color	Scratch

Each Sailor possessing a handicap may be asked to carry a colored ribbon on the backstay of their boat. Any boats not carrying a ribbon (if asked to carry one) will be expected to start at the regular time (with the rest of the fleet). Boats with a Red handicap are allowed to cross the starting line up to 30 seconds early (i.e., on the 30 seconds count on the start tape) Boats with a Yellow handicap are allowed to start up to 20 seconds early. (i.e., on the 20 second count on the start tape) Boats with a Green handicap are allowed to cross the start line up to 10 seconds early, or 10 seconds remaining on the start tape countdown.

When a sailor has won N or more races (see table below) on any given race day, they will be moved down one color. An overall race day first place will also result in a lowering of the handicap by one color.

Table 2

# of races in session	# of wins (N) necessary to change down one color
0 5	2
6 9	3
10 14	4
15-20	5

Once a sailor has moved down a color they may not be moved back up at any time.