Ron:
With all due respect, my boat’s PHRF rating was established in
a mix of conditions, including triangle course racing and long distance racing,
both of which typically involve some reaching. As such, fairness requires
racing in a mix of conditions. Running only W/L courses in round-the-buoy
races works to my disadvantage in several material respects: 1) it adds
unaccounted-for mileage, which benefits lower rated boats (all the boats I race
against); 2) newer, lighter, post-IOR boats are significantly faster upwind
(and can point higher); 3) these boats, most of which are main driven, tack a
lot more efficiently; and 4) my boat tends to hold its own on reaches, which
are eliminated. These disadvantages are exacerbated in “white sailed” racing.
In short, W/L racing reveals how out-designed my boat really is.
PHRF was created so people like me could keep our boats and have some fun
racing. W/L courses undermine this concept.
Matt
C&C 42 Custom
From: Ronald B. Frerker via CnC-List <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, September 10, 2021 12:55 PM
To: Stus-List <[email protected]>
Cc: Ronald B. Frerker <[email protected]>
Subject: Stus-List Re: C&C 33-II vs 35-II now race course design
The problem is with the handicap numbers. A triangle course has only 33%
beat, if equilateral. The more you spread out the offset mark, the less
percentage the beat; the more you pull it in, the higher percentage beat.
For PHRF to work, I believe they recommend at least a 40% beat. Preferred is a
50% beat like a windward/leeward or a triangle with an extra beat.
On a dead downwind course one should sail their best angle for the wind speed,
not go dead downwind. That's true even for the white sail fleet. There was a
great article decades ago about the pole adjusted forward to improve the broad
reach for white sailed boats. But with my filing system, I'll never be able to
produce it if asked.
Ron
Wild Cheri
C&C 30-1
STL
On Friday, September 10, 2021, 11:31:22 AM CDT, Della Barba, Joe via CnC-List
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:
This is an ongoing issue with racing, everything is W/L dinghy racing no matter
if your boat is 10 feet long or 110 feet long. Back in the day when men were
men and sheep were scared we used government marks and you got what you got,
reaches, beats, runs, whatever.
When I used to RC C&C races I decided dead downwind on a hot day was misery for
the white sail fleet, so the spinnaker boats went on a W/L course and the
non-spin fleet used the same windward mark but had an offset somewhere, say
beam reach to the offset and then broad reach to finish. Less tactics but less
heatstroke too!
Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with the
costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use PayPal to
send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks - Stu
