The Portsmouth yardstick reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Portsmouth yardstick

The Portsmouth yardstick (PY) scheme is a system of handicapping used in yacht racing and dinghy racing. It is administered in the UK by the Royal Yachting Association, based on annual input from a large number of affiliated sailing clubs.

Each class of boat is assigned a PY number, with fast boats having low numbers and slow ones high numbers - so, for example, a 49er might have a PY of 747 while a Mirror has a PY of 1386. (These are the actual PY numbers for 2003, but note that adjustments are made each year.) In a race involving a mixed fleet, finishing times can be adjusted using the formula c = (r*1000)/PY, where c = corrected time and r = recorded time.

See the RYA website [1] for current PY ratings for all types of boats, and the rules for drawing these up.

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