Class racing

The system  I want to propose is an addition to the current SYC ranking. The entire Sailonline fleet would be  split up into several groups or classes, based on past performances. For instance, the top 25 ranked sailors would constitute a Pro Sailor Class (or Skipper Class, whatever you want to call it). A second group, for instance the currently ranked 26 – 75 sailors, go into a the Semi Pro Sailor (or Navigator class) and so on.  The number of classes would depend on the total number of Sailonline members. 
Races would be held as normal and each race would see one overall winner plus a winner in each class.  This will ensure that more participants will have something to race for, even victory or podium places within their own class. Sailors who are not using or opposed to weather routers need no longer need to frown at routers, because they are in a competition of their own and at the same time can be proud when doing well overall without any aids. It will introduce into the game the spirit of racing against ones peers.



Promotion and relegation

To add a certain level of competition to the opposite ends of a class, to prevent a class from being dominated or to allow 'weaker' class members an opportunity to do well in another class, there should be rules for promotion to or relegation from a higher class. Promotion or relegation could be done either after each race, monthly,  2 monthly or even 3 monthly, and be dictated by the low-score rankings.
To increase opportunities for promotion, bonus races restricted to a single class could be held.  Sailors may opt to voluntarily relegate by skipping a few races or “coasting” in them.  In order to prevent bouncing back and forth between two classes, there should be a time restriction for being able to promote after having been relegated.



The browser client

Ideally, the client would show at least all members belonging to the sailor’s class as boats so he/she can easily identify against whom he/she is racing. Other boats could be shown as the familiar dots, possibly with the exception of the overall podium places.



Different polars

Once a class system is in place, several other options would become available. Besides organizing bonus races as mentioned above, it would be possible to assign different polars to different classes. This could not only serve to prevent one class from following another, it could also affect allround race results by giving the slower polar to the better sailor. 
Another idea could be to grant certain classes full access in some races to Sailplanner to show the benefits of weather routing, give tactical insights, etc.