ABSA has adopted SMS™ as its primary handicapping system. SMS is the Sports Boat Measurement System developed by Yachting Victoria. SMS is a derivative of AMS.

The SMS handicaps are based on measurement of the hull, displacement, and sail measurements of the vessel and a time on time rating is calculated. This rating is applied to the elapsed time of the boat to obtain its corrected time for the race.

SMS has been split off from the rest of the AMS population to allow for development of the system to better recognise the unique characteristics of sports boats. This system will be developed over time to ensure it best meets the needs of sports boat sailors in Australia.

ASBA’s technical committee discusses feedback from members and presents this to the VYC Measurement and Handicapping Committee to ensure that the formula is developed through direct input of the Australia sports boat sailing community and ASBA members.

YV’s introduction to SMS can be found HERE.

Download the 2009-2010 SMS handbook HERE. (16 MB file)

Latest SMS news from YV can be found HERE.