Menace Masters Handicap to Win Wednesday Night Sailing
IslandStats.com
In a classic demonstration of the tactical nature of handicap racing, the yacht Menace has been declared the winner of the 24th race of the Wednesday Night Sailing Series. Despite crossing the finish line in seventh place, their performance was enough to top the leaderboard once the corrected times were calculated.
Menace completed the course in an elapsed time of 1:00:41, but their handicap rating gave them a winning corrected time of 55:20.
The first boat to cross the line, Crossfire, with a blistering elapsed time of 50:21, had to settle for third place after a corrected time of 55:32 was applied. Similarly, Nasty Medicine, the second boat to finish the race in 52:59, saw their corrected time of 58:07 drop them to 11th position overall.
The evening's results further highlight the importance of the handicap system, which is designed to allow boats of varying sizes and speeds to compete on an equal footing. It's not about being the fastest, but about sailing your boat as efficiently as possible relative to its rating.
Airforce finished second on the night with a corrected time of 55:31, just ahead of Crossfire. Scatteraction claimed fourth place with a corrected time of 55:41, while Fat Tuesday rounded out the top five with a corrected time of 55:51.
