NEWPORT – The Newport-based nonprofit Offshore Racing Association has announced a research study along with the Marion Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race Association and Newport Bermuda Race Organizing Committee.
Led by ORA Technical Director James Teeters, the project – called The ORA H-Zero Handicap Analysis – will use computer-modeled wind records to extract a summary of wind conditions that boats would have experienced in a past race. That data can then be used to enhance scoring methodologies.
Initial funding for the research project has been secured, ORA said in a news release.
Last year, Teeters and the MBCYRA collaborated on a study that would more fairly handicap a race when light wind slows the fleet in the middle of the event.
The H-Zero Handicap Analysis will include several phases, including critique of the work; a boat-race scoring experiment; running a representative fleet through the wind conditions to create a table of conditions for analysis; and consideration of assumptions in the curve-scoring system to be used in the Newport Bermuda Race next year.
Susan Shalhoub is a PBN contributing writer.
