Royals Yearbook 2019/2020

looking back he feels as if the
When
30 years have flown quickly
past
of the constant changes to
because
design and handicapping
yacht
until the next design comes
only
The boats out there today doing
along.
with good crews were not on the
well
five years ago. That’s the pace of
water
that a handicapper has to keep
change
with.” up
joined Royals in 1980 and became
John
in 1990. The role also
handicapper
regular meetings with other
required
around Port Philip to
handicappers
is based on either
Handicapping
or measurement, with the
performance
system undergoing considerable
latter
over the years.
change
John replaced Kevin Wolfe as
When
handicapper in, club racing was
RYCV
on performance handicaps and
based
IOR system for measurement
the
IRC system. This was adopted by
current
Australia as the preferred
Yachting
rating system. John has
measurement
Royals measurer for all these
been
systems, and now also ORCi
rating
determines stability.
which
recalls: “Jon Klestadt was Club
“He
and we would meet regularly
Captain
handicaps which were calculated
on
recorded weekly by hand in the
and
club had a handicapper, and there
Each
also a lot of phone discussions to
were
up with agreed handicaps for
come
that raced inter-club. Goggs
boats
from Sandringham was chair of
Manning
Victoria Performance Handicap
Yachting
and developer of the VYC
Committee
System.”
Handicap
Goggs retired as chair of the VYC
When
committee in the mid-1990s,
handicap
1999 the Channel ratings were
In
and replaced with
discontinued
AMS (Australian Measurement
the
combining handicappers’
System)
of performance and physical
analysis
measurements.
remains the most popular
AMS
rating in Victoria, South
measurement
and Tasmania and can boast
Australia
most measurement certificates in
the
an aside to this, IRC and ORCi
As
boats to be measured and
required
by an accredited measurer, but
weighed
deficiencies were shown up by
serious
fatal 1998 Sydney Hobart after which
the
certificates were questioned,
some
relating to stability. Yachting
particularly
worldwide tightened up boat
authorities
All boats had to demonstrate
measuring.
for major ocean races (Category
stability
a stability test. He remains a
including
for AMS, ORC and ORCi.
measurer
meantime continued to use the
RYCV
based performance system and
Victorian
R Y C V Y E A R B O O K 2 0 1 9 / 2 0 2 0
“Boat designs have a natural
systems:
If a designer comes up with a new
life.
a new boat, and it does well
design,
a good crew, it raises the bar. But
with
John Duffin took over.
prompting Victoria to design
IRC2000,
run its own measurement system –
and
ensure the integrity of inter-club racing.
Australia.
IOR was replaced with IMS, then
ratings.
and in the late 1990s the
Channel
0 and1) as recorded by the measurer.
was appointed an ORCi measurer,
John
measured boats for ORC certificate,
and
handicap book.
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