Jim asks a valid question. I think we all have an opinion on handicaps.
A couple of months ago, the racing at Thorpe Bay had been cancelled because it was too breezy for the monohulls
, (force 7).
However, it didn't deter Kyle and a couple of other Sprints going for a blast. Kyle sailed sport mode, viz two sails and trapeze. When he came ashore, he said it was the fastest he had ever sailed in any boat! And he sails tornados as well!
The point of this observation is that trapezing a Sprint on a reach, if you can do it, can be very fast. Taking the opposite exteme, if the wind is zero, there is nothing to be gained in having a trapeze, nor even two sails: every boat remains stationary. A median has to be found.
On the subject of two-up/two sails, I notice in this year's results of the Round Sheppey race, that the PY was 935. It does seem handicap numbers vary from club to club. At Thorpe Bay, we use 917 in order to rate equally with the una-rigs.