To start, I don't think this algorithm would be good for a general purpose recalculation of handicap. I'll post below what would be more interesting in my opinion.
As for club, we use the algorithm created by Kevin Box that basically tries to move everyone closer to a Median finish time. Penalize the leaders and gifts to the back of the pack. For example, here is the current results for this week:
Tuning Factor
28
Course Length 8.6
Median Time Behind 11.5 min
Median Elapsed 2.01 hr
Boat Elapsed Time Behind Rating New Rating Delta
Boat 1 1.92 hr 0.0 min 191 187 -4
Boat 2 1.88 hr 1.6 min 165 161 -4
Boat 3 1.87 hr 3.0 min 150 147 -3
Boat 4 -1.10 hr 3.8 min 49 46 -3
Boat 5 1.88 hr 3.9 min 147 144 -3
Boat 6 1.82 hr 4.5 min 118 115 -3
Boat 7 1.98 hr 6.5 min 173 171 -2
Boat 8 1.86 hr 6.5 min 121 119 -2
Boat 9 2.06 hr 7.8 min 198 197 -1
Boat 10 1.93 hr 8.9 min 133 132 -1
Boat 11 2.30 hr 10.2 min 280 280 0
Boat 12 2.09 hr 10.4 min 191 191 0
Boat 13 2.24 hr 11.2 min 248 248 0
Boat 14 2.13 hr 11.2 min 204 204 0
Boat 15 2.11 hr 12.2 min 187 187 0
Boat 16 2.25 hr 12.8 min 239 239 0
Boat 17 2.27 hr 13.0 min 248 249 1
Boat 18 2.18 hr 14.4 min 201 202 1
Boat 19 2.12 hr 14.6 min 174 175 1
Boat 20 2.25 hr 15.8 min 221 223 2
Boat 21 2.24 hr 16.0 min 216 218 2
Boat 22 2.11 hr 16.3 min 160 162 2
Boat 23 2.25 hr 16.8 min 214 216 2
Boat 24 2.40 hr 16.9 min 274 276 2
Boat 25 2.52 hr 29.2 min 240 247 7
Boat 26 2.68 hr 32.5 min 282 290 8
Generally, this doesn't make sense for people who are racing near their handicap. They will be punished for being consistent, and gifted for being slow. New folks will move the median back or forth, and should someone not race during a big movement, they will be inaccurately gifted/penalized the next race.
It is fun though. You get more variety of winners. It is just unfortunate that the consistent sailors will always be mid pack.
Great job. I think if the method is described where people can refer to it, they will be accepting. I had asked the question about the method and was never given an answer. It doesn't matter to me, but when I'm trying to describe the method and sell the idea to a new sailor, they seem to feel it is a magical unknown factor. The idea is to help group everyone to a more competitive level. Unfortunately, it does not do much for raising people up to a higher level, it brings the mean down (this is where I'm mixed). The thing I wasn't able to do, was recalculate these results with the given factor - to see where the boats end up with the new rating and same elapsed time. There is no correct answer, it's just how much do we want to pull the leaders back and bring the bottom up?
The spread on this last adjustment is only about a minute and a half. The more people that race more often, improves the results. Also as your experience improves your rating should drop, bringing the crowd closer together. Having a fixed course that reverses, evens out the differences in the legs. If you actually peak out on boat handling then you should be in the mix and it becomes more tactical skill to win. In the last race, I had new crew and messed around with the spinnaker which let some folks catch up. Then on the last leg I did not sail the boat to its potential upwind, which costs us the most time.