RNLI Pennant Race next weekend

Published 12:46 on 3 May 2021

Every year we run a special race to raise money for the RNLI. A minimum donation of £5 is requested. Click here to sign up.

This year the race will be run as an RYA "Average Lap" race. More info on what this entails below. No special knowledge needed - just turn up, start normally, and then keep sailing laps of the course until the Race Team signal you have finished with a toot.

Average Lap Racing

This is a form of handicap racing recommended by the RYA. It has several advantages over both normal handicap races and pursuit races because the competing boats are on the course for approximately the same period and therefore have to deal with the same wind and tide conditions no matter whether they are fast or slow. In normal handicap races, although every boat starts together, the faster boats sail for a shorter time and so changes in conditions after they have finished may give them an extra advantage or disadvantage. In pursuit races the situation is reversed - in theory all the boats should finish the race at the same time but the faster ones will not start until some time after the slower ones which, again, can skew the result.

In an average lap race all boats start at the same time and then sail as many laps as they can around the same set of racing marks until the Race Officer decides it's time to finish the race. Then each boat finishes the next time they cross the line, no matter how many laps of the course they have completed. The winner is then the boat with the best average lap time based on their handicap.

Last updated 11:01 on 28 March 2024