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Bump's World - December 2010
December 5, 2010
PHRF FALL 2010
Many people I meet at boat shows, sailing events, and local bar rooms have asked what's going on with PHRF, so here we go.
PHRF continues to dominate handicap offshore racing. There are more than 40 PHRF organizations in North America that have rated over 50,000 boats. The nearest competition is IRC ratings of which there are about 800 boats rated IRC in North America. PHRF systems are used on the East and West coasts, the Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico, and many inland lakes and even some rivers.
PHRF New England membership has been consistent with about 1,200 members per year. I see some local fleets numbers go down, when other fleets in the same year go up. This is always because a group with in that fleet is promoting the racing and working on better events, while other fleets do the same races over and over.
Wednesday and Thursday evening races remain very popular. The evening races take less time. Most people can get out 1 evening a week and the cocktail party after is at night and again less conflicts. Weekend racing has its good and bad racing. The same old weekend races are losing participation and the thyme racing is doing very well. A Hospice type event or MS regatta is well promoted and well attended. The losers feel at least they contributed to something good. The old yacht club spring/summer/fall regattas are hurting.
PHRF NE championship regatta continues to be a great event. In our best year, which would have been 1998, there were 138 entries. For the past 4 years the entries have been in the 110 range. 110 is a very good number since the regatta social events are held at one of Marblehead's yacht clubs, however PHRF can use all of the three yacht club race committees. That means there can be 3 separate starting lines and course areas. This works very well with good racing on good courses with about 10 to 15 boats per class, which again makes for excellent racing. This event has been run now for over 25 years so we are dealing with fine-tuning every year since the base format is well defined.
The event does have the flexibility to deal with changes in offshore racing. For the past couple of years there has been a J 105 only class and that has grown to about 20 boats. This year for the first time there was a day sailor class. This day sailor class was the idea of a couple of boat owners who enjoyed racing against boats of a more similar design instead of rating. The owners can up with a list of requirements and designs that would be acceptable for this class. The day sailor class put 10 boats on the starting line and everyone in that class was very happy with the racing. In the past there has been a sport boat class, again with a design parameter by the owners to again have similar boats racing together instead of boats just with similar ratings.
The success of PHRF continues to be the simplicity of the system. Fill out an easy form off of the web site www.phrfne.org. The dues are minimal and the turn around time very quick. We have rated boats on the way to the starting line of an event. We do not recommend this; however it is done to promote the event. Boats do not have to be measured or weighted etc. The local fleets monitor their boats and report to a central committee.
Because PHRF is such a simple system people who expect more out of a rating system can be disappointed. For example different boats perform differently in different conditions. If in Marblehead you own a boat that is really good in heavy air and not so good in light air your trophy case is going to be kind of empty. Just the opposite wind conditions are true in Buzzards Bay. PHRF rates a boat for it's best condition so it really helps to have a boat that is good in the conditions that you typically race in. Many other limits in other rules are not there, like crew weight.
There is also 1 rating for all courses. A point to point race is very different than a windward/leeward race.
If you want a higher level of racing with much more measurements and accommodations for different course and conditions there are the measurement rules like IRC. The measurement rules have their own issues since the designers and yacht owners have way more resources and money than the sailing organization that put together the rule. So the measurement changes as the designers beat the rule. When the rule changes, the wealthy owners build new boats to beat the new rule and so on. Last years measurement rule winners end up racing PHRF.
Yacht racers love to complain about their rating. I have never met an owner who thought his rating was favorable and only a few who think their rating is fair. Good sailors win races under any rule and the low cost and simplicity of PHRF will continue to make this rating system dominate all offshore racing in North America.
Please mail comments to me at Bump@newwaveyachts.com
Bump Wilcox
Bump's World - December 2010
December 5, 2010
PHRF FALL 2010
Many people I meet at boat shows, sailing events, and local bar rooms have asked what's going on with PHRF, so here we go.
PHRF continues to dominate handicap offshore racing. There are more than 40 PHRF organizations in North America that have rated over 50,000 boats. The nearest competition is IRC ratings of which there are about 800 boats rated IRC in North America. PHRF systems are used on the East and West coasts, the Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico, and many inland lakes and even some rivers.
PHRF New England membership has been consistent with about 1,200 members per year. I see some local fleets numbers go down, when other fleets in the same year go up. This is always because a group with in that fleet is promoting the racing and working on better events, while other fleets do the same races over and over.
Wednesday and Thursday evening races remain very popular. The evening races take less time. Most people can get out 1 evening a week and the cocktail party after is at night and again less conflicts. Weekend racing has its good and bad racing. The same old weekend races are losing participation and the thyme racing is doing very well. A Hospice type event or MS regatta is well promoted and well attended. The losers feel at least they contributed to something good. The old yacht club spring/summer/fall regattas are hurting.
PHRF NE championship regatta continues to be a great event. In our best year, which would have been 1998, there were 138 entries. For the past 4 years the entries have been in the 110 range. 110 is a very good number since the regatta social events are held at one of Marblehead's yacht clubs, however PHRF can use all of the three yacht club race committees. That means there can be 3 separate starting lines and course areas. This works very well with good racing on good courses with about 10 to 15 boats per class, which again makes for excellent racing. This event has been run now for over 25 years so we are dealing with fine-tuning every year since the base format is well defined.
The event does have the flexibility to deal with changes in offshore racing. For the past couple of years there has been a J 105 only class and that has grown to about 20 boats. This year for the first time there was a day sailor class. This day sailor class was the idea of a couple of boat owners who enjoyed racing against boats of a more similar design instead of rating. The owners can up with a list of requirements and designs that would be acceptable for this class. The day sailor class put 10 boats on the starting line and everyone in that class was very happy with the racing. In the past there has been a sport boat class, again with a design parameter by the owners to again have similar boats racing together instead of boats just with similar ratings.
The success of PHRF continues to be the simplicity of the system. Fill out an easy form off of the web site www.phrfne.org. The dues are minimal and the turn around time very quick. We have rated boats on the way to the starting line of an event. We do not recommend this; however it is done to promote the event. Boats do not have to be measured or weighted etc. The local fleets monitor their boats and report to a central committee.
Because PHRF is such a simple system people who expect more out of a rating system can be disappointed. For example different boats perform differently in different conditions. If in Marblehead you own a boat that is really good in heavy air and not so good in light air your trophy case is going to be kind of empty. Just the opposite wind conditions are true in Buzzards Bay. PHRF rates a boat for it's best condition so it really helps to have a boat that is good in the conditions that you typically race in. Many other limits in other rules are not there, like crew weight.
There is also 1 rating for all courses. A point to point race is very different than a windward/leeward race.
If you want a higher level of racing with much more measurements and accommodations for different course and conditions there are the measurement rules like IRC. The measurement rules have their own issues since the designers and yacht owners have way more resources and money than the sailing organization that put together the rule. So the measurement changes as the designers beat the rule. When the rule changes, the wealthy owners build new boats to beat the new rule and so on. Last years measurement rule winners end up racing PHRF.
Yacht racers love to complain about their rating. I have never met an owner who thought his rating was favorable and only a few who think their rating is fair. Good sailors win races under any rule and the low cost and simplicity of PHRF will continue to make this rating system dominate all offshore racing in North America.
Please mail comments to me at Bump@newwaveyachts.com
Bump Wilcox