It wasn’t an April Fool’s, although we were introduced to it on that date.

YRYC Sailboat Racing will begin using a different method of scoring starting this year. Strongly advocated by U.S. Sailing, popular in Europe, and now used by a number of clubs within the Chesapeake Bay, the purpose is to make racing more competitive.

Rather than using the fixed distance of the race to determine the time allowance that should be granted for a given handicap rating, calculations use the time of the race in their calculations.

As Mike Mastracci explained to the crowd, Time on Time makes a lot of sense for the York River racing, where the wind conditions can vary radically from one race to another.

Mike’s slide presentation can be found here and on the racing page.

You can also read about Time on Time on the U.S. Sailing web site.