So here’s the thing. The first boat to cross the finish line doesn’t necessarily win a sailing race. Round Saltspring 2015 was scored using the Time on Distance formula and the distance used was 42.0 nautical miles.

Each boat has an assigned handicap. In the photo above the little boat, a ‘Left Coast Dart’ with 5 sailors on deck (Ogopogo) has a handicap of 114 seconds per mile. The big boat, a ‘Santa Cruz 52’ with a million sailors on deck (Marda Gras) has a handicap of -9 sec per mile.

What this means is that for every mile of the race, Marda Gras needs to be about 2 minutes ahead of Ogopogo. Marda Gras needs to finish about 84 minutes ahead of  Ogopogo.

In the photo above, about a third of the way into the race, Marda Gras needs to be far ahead of Ogopogo. 

Marda‘s elapsed time on the Round Saltspring course was 8:28:18. Ogopogo‘s elapsed time was 9:16:02.
Which boat finished ahead on corrected time?

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By the way baaad kitty!’s elapsed time was 08:28:43, her corrected time (based on her handicap over 42 miles) was 07:48:09. And that was the fastest time overall.