There is competitive, good-natured sailing on Sunday afternoons from April to October, with races on Sunday mornings too from early summer onwards. Novice and cadet sailors are encouraged to join in. As well as the five main series, there are many cup races and annual events including the cadet races and the Allen cup (under 18s) and the Humphreys cups (under 14s), the ladies race, the greybeards race (gentlemen over a certain age), the Celebration Weekend celebrating all past members of the club including Jim Newbery, Paul Smith and Colin Sproxton, Bart’s Bash, LaserFest and the RYA's Push the Boat Out.
Fixtures All racing fixtures are listed on the club calendar. The race times are the start times so please get down early to rig and register for racing.
What's your handicap? Portsmouth Yardsticks or numbers are the RYA's calculations of handicaps so that different classes can race each other. Calculations are revised each year based on returns from clubs around the country.
Some boats are not raced enough for valid calculations to be made and experimental figures are used which can be adjusted locally by Sailing Committees to take account of actual results. Adjustments can also be made to factor in local conditions and boats sailed out of standard rigs or crew. For instance we will generally reduce a PY by 20 for a double handed boat sailed single handed. Other amendments would be made when a boat is sailed with a trapeze where it is not a standard setup.