Got an idea (yea, it hurt)
.. need to know peoples Weight when sailing (add wt jacket if you wear one) divided by max speed To start things....mine is- 1.96. Ta.
close enough to 2 off the top of my head. That kilograms and Knots as units.
And I agree, what is this idea that hurt so much, we're all intrigued so spit it out.
It appears that the lower the number the better the ratio, therefore fat boys like me have a slightly higher number than lightweights such as you decrep, therefore making you superior to me
2.75
It's the old Nigerian Knot Scam...
Don't give too much info...or you may lose knots 
or gain weight
.. need to know peoples Weight when sailing (add wt jacket if you wear one) divided by max speed To start things....mine is- 1.96. Ta.
O.K.- I thought most would get a ratio of between 1.9 and 2.1, and while many did, not enough to base a handicap SPEED event on where lightweights could compete with heavyweights. Seems to work for average sailors betwween 70-100kg, but then, guys like Daffy go just too fast for their weight... seems skill also plays an important part. Thanks all for proving me wrong. 
location is also going to make a big (massive) difference as well- i believe mandurah is a faster spot than the swan and in turn sandy point is faster than mandurah,so i am led to believe....
basically if you are a lightweight say under 80kg,you are going to be behind the 
compared with the heavier guys all things being equal that is...just my opinion
mikey why not use sailors average speed pb? this would be a better indication of a sailors speed- as a lot of sailors, including myself, have had quite "impressive" 2 sec speeds...
on reflection mikey i wouldnt be to discouraged with the idea of a handicap system, at the end of the day there is still a lot of variables involved your just trying to make the playing field a little more level which (as a light weight i applaud) it is after all a measure of skill you are looking for. who would you say was the most skilled out of the following sailors in making a board go fast? Robby or Finnian?
Handicap system eh, like the sound of that. So does that mean Elmo(newest member of 40knt club) now has to have two plastic shopping bags attached to his fin when speed sailing.
Yeh Snides i hit a couple(weed patches) on saturday and had a nice trip over the nose.
I like where this is going. A reasonable handicap system could be developed based on the average PBs set at a location, weight, height and 5x10 of the sailor, and speed squared. Let me explain...
Each location will have its own standard, which I think could be measured with the best X number of PBs acheived at that location. Sandy Point for example has an average top 20 5x10 of 42.32 knots based on rankings in GPSSS. 20 seems like a reasonable number, as long as it doesn't include an abnormal number of international hotshots. Strand horst has 38.72.
Speed is exponentially more difficult to attain as you go faster. So any comparison should be based on the square of the speed. However the location has a peculiar effect on the speeds attainable to. For example 38 knots is quite easily achieved at Sandy point but very difficult on open water. We need to use the same logic for the location average speed as the sailor speed by putting the square of the sailors speed over the square of the location speed (hope I haven't lost anyone yet...).
So here is my formula for a handicap system:
handicap value = (1000*SA*SA) / (W*H*LA*LA)
where:
SA = Sailor average 5x10
W = weight in KGs
H = height in Metres
LA = location top 20 average 5x10
1000 = scaled up to a meaningful number
Some examples:
Chris at SP = (1000*46.2*46.2)/(95*1.92*42.32*42.23) = 7.09
Andrew Daff at SP = (1000*46.2*46.2)/(74*1.77*42.32*42.23) = 7.96
Serge Beumer as Strand Hst = (1000*40.38*40.38)/(80*1.91*38.72*38.72) = 7.12
I was going to provide more examples from other locations but not many locations show up in the GPSSS search tool.
Sorry, copied some numbers wrong...
Chris at SP = (1000*47.2*47.2)/(95*1.85*42.32*42.23) = 7.09
Andrew Daff at SP = (1000*43.16*43.16)/(74*1.77*42.32*42.23) = 7.96
Serge Beumer as Strand Hst = (1000*40.38*40.38)/(80*1.91*38.72*38.72) = 7.12
And mine...
Mal = (1000*46.2*46.2)/(95*1.92*42.32*42.23) = 6.55
So Daff is still the winner with the highest handicap number. But only just! If I get about 51 knots I have got him!
Mal so working on that, you are never going to catch him?
Or have I missed your point?
Some how his needs to be set so you and him are close and any improvement See's one or the other change and then a recalculation if one or the other continues to perform at new level to bring playing field back to compatibility, yes?
Mineral
I forgot to put Andrews additional 5kg weight vest into the calcs, whereas it was included with Chris's at 95 KG total weight. It still left Andrew in the lead at 7.45 but only by half the margin. If Chris got back to fighting weight of 85kgs and no weight jacket then he could match Andrew at 45.75 knots, and for me around 48.5 knots.
In reality, this formula might be penalising the taller heavy guy more than necessary. It assumes that both weight and height have a linear benefit, when that is probably not the case. More likely the combination is linear. Maybe those factors need some kind of adjustment.
