UPDATE – Feb 2015 The RYA have issued the D-Zero a PY of 1040 (EN) and the ‘Great Lakes’ PY is now 1031 both based on data received.

As there have been some discussions with regards to setting a PY for the D-Zero we would like to draw your attention to the RYA guidance on setting a PY for a boat that does not currently have one.

From the ‘Using the Scheme’ document on the RYA website (available here) the following guidance is give:

“Trial Number
A number allocated by a club for a new class/ configuration that is yet to establish itself within the club. This number is to be periodically reviewed by the club until any number adjustment calculations give a stable number, at which point the trial number can join the club list.”

If you wish to race your D-Zero in handicap racing you need to ask your club to allocate the boat a Trial Number which will allow you to race. They should also include this along with the raw data as part of the annual return. This is important because the raw data will allow the RYA PYAG to analyse the perfroamnce of the boat and then publish an official PY recommendation, most likely an EN for 2015.

A Trial Number can be derived from a number of sources:

  • Some clubs with open waters seem to be using the ‘Great Lakes’ PY
  • Some clubs are looking at boats with similar sail areas, beam and waterline length (for example a Laser with a Rooster 8.1 rig) and using that as a starting point
  • Some clubs are speaking to other clubs with a similar size of water and sharing their exeperience before setting a Trial Number.

So at the time of publishing this article the PY ranges from 1010 (the current ‘Great Lakes’ PY, this is not an official PY from the RYA but is one that is being used for the SailJuice Winter Series events) to numbers between 1040 and 1050.

The designer of the boat has consistently indicated that he believes the boat to be in the 1040-1050 range (again this is not official just an indicator).