In no other sport has there been such a diversity of approaches to the fundamental requirement that we should compete under conditions that offer everyone a fair chance of winning. Yet in no other sport have these various attempts so convincingly failed to satisfy the participants

The proposition that a measurement-based regime would encourage owners to better maintain or upgrade their yachts is illogical. Any classic yacht that races regularly will already be adequately maintained. Upgrades would add to a handicap, which is hardly encouraging. Inevitably, this would soon lead to the rise of an optimisation scramble lead by the professional "rating whisperers" who have become such a blight on IRC racing.

The obvious goal being to equitably rate a full range of boat sizes and types over a variety of conditions, and while this is a tall order given the diversity of the diverse Classic fleet, during the 2022 season the racing was good and the ratings seemed reasonably fair.

The purpose of any rating rule is to enable yachts of different sizes to race together fairly. Without a rating rule there could be no enjoyable racing as, barring unforeseen circumstances, the largest yacht (and the richest owner) would always win.

The phenomena of designers distorting the functional shape and appendages of a yacht to gain a rating advantage is not a new one.

Given the development of user friendly measurement handicap systems over the last few years I think the time has come for one of the Australian or New Zealand Classic Yacht fleets to trial a system based on actual data rather than performance.