New Portsmouth Yardstick Numbers

Two days ago the RYA published the Portsmouth Yardstick handicap numbers for 2025. They are now in HalSail and will be used as the default handicaps in PY racing classes.

But note that EXISTING HANDICAPS ARE NOT UPDATED AUTOMATICALLY. That is because many clubs use their own bespoke handicaps and would not appreciate them being overwritten by the new ones. 

However it is easy to do the update yourself. There are two ways of doing it.

• You can update all the numbers in one go from the Boats  > Tools > Standard handicaps menu item. That page gives you access to all the standard handicaps in the following schemes: PY, IRC, Small Catamaran Scheme (SCHRS), Australian Yardsticks and the base numbers for the National Handicaps for Cruisers scheme. To update all your PY numbers in one go, click the button on the right of the PY row. That will give you a list of all the boats in each PY class and their current handicaps. The ones that agree with the latest numbers will be in green and the ones that disagree will be in red. Click the button at the top of each column to update them and turn them all green.
• You can update the handicaps one at a time by going to the Boat-Class crosstab page. There you can see all the boats in each class, with those that agree with the new handicaps in green and those that disagree in red. Click each one individually and add a new handicap that will automatically default to the new value. 

Happy sailing in 2025. May the new numbers reduce the bar-room arguments about handicaps. Some hope!