PHRF Reloaded

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Last week we ran a story about the sad state of PHRF in San Diego, (PHRF Chumps, er, Champs) as evidenced by the pathetic turnout for their championship regatta (11 boats in 5 classes). A lot of you weighed in on the topic and here is what one area in the country has done about it:

We have also had our fair share of problems with PHRF (NW and BC) but we did something about it! For the last five years we have been using ORC Club to rate Divisions 1 and 2 in the Vancouver Area Racing Councils (VARC) 16 Regatta Series. Divisions 1 and 2 are made up of boats like: Mumm 30s, Mumm 36, J105s, J109s, J35s, J36s, J37, J39, Mount 30, Dash 34s ILC 40, Grand Surprise 30, Aerodyne 38, Flying Tiger ect. These are the types of boats PHRF struggles with.

ORC Club is based in the UK, we have several local measurers to measure the boats and send off the data. The system is based on a VPP program that rates the boats for all wind conditions and points of sail. We use the 3 number system "light, medium and heavy wind ratings" thus allowing very fair racing and makes it easier for the RC to use on the water. Results look like one design results with finishes only separated by a few seconds in most cases. The program calculates windward leeward courses or distance races (Circular Random courses). A certificate costs about $75 bucks Cdn. We simply input our boats measurements online to ORC Club and about three to four days later we have a certificate. Under PHRF we had boats that were miss rated by as much as 30 to 45 seconds. ORC club smoothed out most of those problems and now we have good fair races. The only crumble usually is "I should have tacked to the favored side earlier" or "*&#% I blew the start." Check it out.

VARC (Vancouver Area Racing Council) is a council of the local yachts clubs in our area and has been around for more than 30 years. The council meets 6 times a year to determine the local schedule, set divisions for the overall fleet championship series, organizes sponsors for the 16 regattas that make up the VARC Series (the individual clubs run the regatta as there own). VARC also organizes the year end dinner and awards party that gives away 8 to 10 Thousands bucks in prizes, a must attend event. VARC's mandate is to promote Yacht racing and fair sailing in our area. VARC Web Page.

Reigh North
VARC Registrar/Planner
10/21/08

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PHRF Reloaded