I've been campaining Yachting Victoria for a while to get the Handicap adjusted.
I thought I was onto a winner when it got provisionally adjusted from 0.715 to 0.625.
I have since submitted a set of racing rules for the class on behalf of the upcoming Australian Macgregor Association. I had conversed with the President of the Trailable Committee a number of times and was feeling very confident that the handicap would be adjusted to something more realistic.
Monday night I had a phone call from the President of the Trailable Committee, informing me that the application had been squashed. As the committee was of the opinion that the currently published handicap must have been based on good solid data and the concept of making as bold an adjustment as I was after was just not going to happen.
The handicap will undergo review with all other handicaps within the next couple of months along with every other trailable class. This review is based on results submitted by member yacht clubs from races conducted during the year. This type of adjustement (if any) is only of a marginal type and will not address the large disparity that we now have.
I informed him that I was far from happy, and would await the outcome of the review. I also informed him that should the review not adjust our handicap sufficiently to give us a fair go, that I would be appealing the decision. Primarily my appeal will be based on the knowledge (from racing trailable yachts for some years) that the handicap currently published for th Macgregor cannot be correct as the handicap listed is older than the introductory date for the 26M. Further I will appeal on the basis that I believe that the onus of proof of the handicap rests with Yachting Victoria to verify where and how the handicap listed was derived.
One of the conditions to get a handicap allocated is that a set of racing rulks must be submitted from the class association. How can Yachting Victoria allocate a handicap, when we don't yet have an association? This is a line of questioning that was not received well.
My intent is to draft a letter to Yachting Victoria before the reviews are conducted, however I have learnt that I need to calm

down prior to doing this, as an emotive letter gains no friends.
But what I really need is racing results.
Any racing results.
Currently the only results submitted are mine. A line of argument that Yachting Victoria have used is that this is only one sailors performance (intimating that I may be a mug sailor, which I'm not!

)
So we need some Aussie Mac owners to get out ther and get some results on the board. Then send them into me quick.
My apologies to the cruising majority who must think I'm nuts.
Thanks
Brian