Frequently Asked Questions

Selection of teams for the Grand Final will be based on the performance of your club’s junior sailors at qualifier events in your RYA Region or Home Country. The RYA will analyse the results using the Portsmouth Yardstick portal (PYonline.com) to create a club score and RYA Junior Club Championships Ranking for each area. The top two clubs from each area (Scotland, Northern Ireland, Cymru Wales, North West, North East, Midlands, East, London & South East, South and South West) will be invited by the RYA to the Grand Final. 

The Junior Club Championships Qualification Framework is based on sailor performance at designated qualification events. For each race, the sailor’s achieved PY score will be compared to the PY number for their class. The difference between these two numbers is converted into a score out of 100:

• A PY difference of 300 or more will score 1 point
• -300 of less, the sailor will score 100 points
• If there is no difference (0), it will score 50 points
• Anything in between -98 and 100 is given a proportional score

The best 3 scores for each sailor (ie. the highest) will be added to provide the ‘sailor score’. Sailors completing less than three races will receive a ‘zero score’ for missing races. A club score will be the sum of its four top sailor scores. Clubs will be ranked in each area with the top two invited to the Grand Final.

The achieved PY score is a function of the time taken by the sailor to sail the course compared to the average time across the fleet (with some criteria applied to ensure outliers such as those who capsize or struggle to get around the course don’t affect the average). The PY difference is therefore the difference between how long the sailor actually took to complete the course compared to the theoretical time it would have taken had they sailed to their classes assigned PY number.

The scoring methodology used allows us to compare the relative performance of sailors who may not have competed at the same event ensuring that we are encouraging inter-club competition without requiring sailors to travel significant distances on multiple occasions. Simply using race results would mean that a 5th place was worth the same at every event, regardless of the level of competition or number of competitors. By utilising the PY calculation, sailors are raising the clock not just their competitors with every second counting.

The qualifying events for each year’s Grand Final run from July to July, and after the results have been finalised it is expected that invitations will then be sent out in August to the top two clubs from each RYA Region and Home Country.

The intention is that this will be an exciting event for young sailors aged under 16 on 1 September in the year of the Grand Final.  While qualifiers and the Grand Final will appeal to often younger sailors, the upper age limit also allows those who have learnt to sail and race as older teenagers an opportunity to likewise develop their racing skills and experience.

This event is aimed at confident club-level junior sailors who are participating in their local racing scenes. It’s not intended for sailors regularly competing on the national class circuits, so if some of your sailors are doing so and have helped the club to qualify, an ideal scenario would be that their place is given to a less experienced member of your junior section. Further information about eligibility may be found in the Notice of Race.

Qualifiers encompass already existing local and regional open events, with entry for these determined by each organiser/host club. For the Grand Final, the entry fee per club team of six sailors will be a total of £300. 

The RYA is keen that all clubs invited to the Grand Final are able to take part - if support is needed for sourcing boats, the RYA may be able to assist by connecting clubs in need of boats with clubs which have boats available to lend or charter.

Events for the RYA Junior Club Championships are selected with the aim of providing good access for junior sailors to attend one or more local qualifiers in their Region or Home Country. Qualification events must offer the following:

• Open entry to junior sailors
• At least three different clubs represented and no more than 40% of each fleet to be from any one club
• Racing under PY and/or at least one Recognised Pathway Class;
• Races that are at least 20 minutes long
• Recording of elapsed times for each competitor
• Submission of results, including elapsed times, through the RYA results portal.

If you have an existing event for junior sailors in your RYA Region or Home Country that you would like to be considered for inclusion as a qualifier, please get in touch. Email racing.events@rya.org.uk with details of your event, including venue, dates, classes offered and typical entry numbers as well as confirmation that it can meet the requirements outlined above.

The qualification period runs from July to July each year, so look out for announcements for each cycle from July/August onwards. Follow @BritishSailingPathway on social media and bookmark the RYA Junior Club Championships hub which will be updated regularly as and when events are confirmed.