No boat was allowed to rate at more than 1.0. On the Thames an “A” rater had a rating over 0.8 while a “B” rater was under this value. The Thames “A” raters are still racing with very large modern Bermudan rigs.

A typical example of the larger of these boats was “Volunteer”. This boat raced against the Club in one of the first matches against the Ouse A.S.C. It was very successful, and was bought jointly by Messrs. Amps, Freeman and Piggott and brought to the Club. “Volunteer” won races right up to 1950 and was still sailed at the Club until 1971.

The early Cam members did not introduce this handicapping system immediately. In the first year of full racing a handicap system was introduced based on wins. A penalty for winning was imposed rather like the Personal Handicap system we have today. In 1902 the boats were divided into two classes; “A” with side decks greater than 5” wide and “B” with side decks less than 5” wide. This led to a written protest since one boat sailed in both classes! Perhaps her decks were exactly” wide. In 1903 this system was scrapped as clearly unworkable and boats were classified according to length in three classes. There was no handicapping for individual boats but penalties for winning were retained.