My bitching about PHRF is well documented and of course justified and nearly always accurate. Out here in So Cal we have some big problems, the latest appearing to be this new breed of boat known as the TP 52's. These things are wicked fast, and once again, it also appears that PHRF has missed the mark in rating these boats. Harry Pattison from Elliott/Pattison Sailmakers (www.epsails.com) is a good sailor who sails on the Andrews 70' sled Vicki. Here are some of his observations about perceived rating descrepencies in a letter he sent to PHRF board member Drew Friedes.

Ed.

Drew,

How about a little help with the big boat ratings?

Compare Magnitude with Vicki…

  • Magnitude is 2000 lb. lighter, has a deeper keel, a thinner steel keel, and more lead in the bulb.
  • Their rudder is thinner, deeper and a newer design.
  • They have a carbon mast, Vicki has aluminum, their mast is 9’ taller
  • Their boom is 4’ longer.
  • They have 37’ spinnaker poles, Vicki has 30’ poles.

Add that up with the penalties right out of the PHRF Rule and it comes to a minimum of 36 seconds a mile, but since quite a few of the changes are a lot bigger than the standard penalties they are “rated independently” which I assume would mean they would get more than the “standard penalty”. I figure somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 to 51 seconds per mile. THEY GIVE US 3 SECONDS PER MILE.

Did you do the Ensenada Race? Pretty good indication of what the real potential boat speed of a lot of different boats is. Straight forward race, windy reaching, nobody sailed a very much different course. Boats did get closed up the last 8 miles as the wind died in the bay which made the final corrected times closer than they were had the race finished 20 miles sooner, but still a very good indicator.

What did we all see? Medicine Man is just about as fast as Magnitude, they both sailed away from Vicki consistently, and the Trans Pac 52’s are as fast as either one of them. In the windier reaching part of the race we watched as Alta Vita sailed away from us, and gained boat for boat on Magnitude.

Something has to be done to get these boat ratings in line. It is killing the racing at that level. How can we convince owners to spend the time and money required to do big races when they have no hope of finishing well. Medicine Man was the only big boat to do the Whitney this year. Owners of boats like Vicki knew there was no way they could correct out on Medicine Man.

How do I try and get Al Schultz to sail the Isla Navidad race when Magnitude gives him 3 seconds a mile, and Medicine Man and the TP 52’s will probably all beat him boat for boat?

How can PHRF give ratings to things like water ballast and masthead Code 0 jibs. These things radically change to potential boat speed for a select few boats, but they do it in ways that other boats can’t even do. Can Vicki start the TransPac with 2000 lbs of ballast on the weather rail, or better yet have someone come along side after we round Catalina and give it to us, and then drop it overboard once the wind goes aft? They aren’t just changing their righting moment, they are changing displacement right in the middle of the race! And no one else is allowed to use a Code 0 with a midgirth less than 75% of the foot. If you are going to give boats ratings with things that are illegal for the rest of us, at least have the decency to give them ratings that reflect the speed potential in the best circumstance with those changes. Then if they want to carry them, or 37’ spinnaker poles, so they can try to be first to finish, fine, but they shouldn’t be able to correct out on all the rest of the fleet. I was talking to Alan Andrews on Saturday and he admitted, or bragged, that the 52’s probably are faster boat for boat them Magnitude and Vicki in those conditions, and so is Medicine Man. Great, so rate them that way!!!!

A little frustrated,

Harry