In ranking the fleet into Red, Blue and Green groups, this year we’ve utilised the Bradley-Terry model. This model was first introduced to mathematics way back in the early 1950s and versions of it are used to calculate professional golf and tennis rankings.
The BT model provides a probabilistic outcome of two boats racing against each other. This was calculated from each boats performance against each other at Championship races over the past two years. So rather than just rank the overall result, we’re looking at pairwise helm performance in each individual race with no drops.
To be included in the ranking, a helm will have competed in at least six races - at least two regional championship or one Nationals. Like any model, it isn’t perfect and the UKFFA committee have made some minor tweaks and adjustments to the final result. The UKFFA committee are also providing initial groupings to unranked helms entering 2025 events, which will be published just prior to each event.
To be clear: the Flying Fifteen BT model rankings and Red, Blue, Green groupings have no effect on the 2025 Worlds qualification but they do provide bragging rights at the bar.