Longer distance races - 30 miles or more, can equal out the odds somewhat. I will not do round the can solo. Nice to win with a better handicap, better to take second place(s) rated as fully crewed going solo. Try to keep that racing within light air forecasts for obvious safety reasons. Bermuda 1-2 is a different story.
From: dwight veinot via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2021 5:36 PM To: Stus-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Cc: dwight veinot <dwight...@gmail.com> Subject: Stus-List Re: Solo racing and PHRF A really good race is a seamanship race. Tests navigational skills and emergency skills even man overboard as well as sailing skills and learning charts On Wed, Feb 10, 2021 at 6:09 PM CHARLES SCHEAFFER via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com<mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com>> wrote: Hey David, Good luck organizing your club's racing. I used to be heavily involved with CHESSS, an organization on Chesapeake Bay for "Shorthanded Sailors". The leader of CHESSS convinced every yachtclub on the bay to allow CHESSS to race in their own class and every regatta or Wed night event offered that, but it combined double handed and solo racers. I found racing my boat solo against double handed boats to be as difficult as racing against a fully crewed boat. Each race had a boat entered with two expert skippers and each could easily do any chore without a word. They raced on a drysailed J-105 with new sails. They were each National Champions in J-105. The results were loaded and predictable short of devine intervention, and they lead every race. A solo sailor has to do everything alone and if anything goes wrong, has to disengage from actually racing competitively and sort out the problem and solve it on his own. Sometimes a weekend race can turn to survival mode. Imagine if a the autohelm dies or an important schackle opens up or there is an override on a winch. A doublehanded boat has a person who is running the boat and a second person who can act as a floater to fix things if problems crop up and that's unfair to a solo racer. A second person can focus on the problem while the other guy steers and and maintains a competitive course. I'm not complaining, that's the attraction of solo sailing. Andrew Evans wrote the bible on singlehanded sailing/racing and concluded the PHRF handicap should be increased by 13 seconds. https://www.sfbaysss.org/resource/doc/SinglehandedTipsThirdEdition.pdf<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sfbaysss.org%2Fresource%2Fdoc%2FSinglehandedTipsThirdEdition.pdf&data=04%7C01%7C%7C13a4762b2e7a4eec704c08d8ce144fd8%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637485933921636629%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=84MaHEkGaKcL3srPIJn4GXE9ei8LfVRqYmJH4Xgsyik%3D&reserved=0> That's the amount of time loss from tacking and gybing sails alone, unassisted. I think it makes sense, but no yacht club ever considered changing our PHRF ratings. They simply took our entry money and and allowed us to race in a separate class. One of our CHESSS officers did some testing and made a record of sailing manuevers w crew vs solo and he came up with even more time. He came up with 20 secs based on delays doing tacks and gybes alone. If I got 13 seconds, I'd feel better about racing fully crewed boats. Chuck Scheaffer, Resolute 1989 C&C 34R On 02/10/2021 9:32 AM David Knecht via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com<mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com>> wrote: Unfortunately, there is only one "short-handed" race all season in my area and that is a double-handed one day event. There are no single/double entry categories in any ECSA events. I have brought up the issue with the ECSA a number of times but got no traction. It will likely be the top of my priority list when I retire and have more time. I am in charge of racing for our club this year, so may try it for some events and see what response I get. Dave S/V Aries 1990 C&C 34+ New London, CT [cid:image001.png@01D6FFD4.7FA22250] On Feb 10, 2021, at 9:24 AM, dwight veinot via CnC-List < cnc-list@cnc-list.com<mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com>> wrote: Does the PHRF in your area adjust for deficiencies in crew and crew work. In some clubs that may happen based on results from one series to the next but even that assumes your crew is constant and any improvement in results will relate to the crew getting better. Still it's a rather arbitrary adjustment. If you fleet race solo or double handed you may deserve more favourable adjustment for crew deficiencies than you get for sail inventory. On Wed, Feb 10, 2021 at 9:36 AM David Knecht via CnC-List < cnc-list@cnc-list.com<mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com>> wrote: Interesting discussion. When I got new string sails a few years ago, I opted for a 145 and a 110 genoa. I raced for several years with small crew (3-4) with the 145 and only put on the 110 in the Fall when it was predicted to blow hard all day. Last year, I raced solo all season due to Covid and so got re-rated for the 110 (PHRF 121 went to 133). I was definitely not as fast, but it was sooooo much easier to handle the boat and so much more fun. I have raced solo with the 145 and it was a killer. I remember once on a 10-15 day just not being able to get the genoa winched in the whole way by the last beat (I was ready to add electric winches!). With the 110, I did some long all day races solo with 25 knot winds and had a blast. On light days, it took even more concentration than normal to keep the boat going with the 110, but I did not feel slow, given the rating boost. IMHO, light air is about technique more than sail area. I thought I would get hurt more downwind than upwind by the small genoa (non-spinnaker racing) but that did not seem to be the case. I did not finish as well overall as previous years, but I think that was as much due to being solo as it was to the smaller sail. In heavier air, unless you have 6 bodies on the rail (which I never have), I don't think the larger sail really has benefits. You are just overpowered all the time. So presuming you get the PHRF benefit of a smaller sail, I would not hesitate to err on the smaller side. Isn't that what PHRF is supposed to do- equalize your competitiveness given your setup? Dave S/V Aries 1990 C&C 34+ New London, CT <pastedGraphic.tiff> 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<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.paypal.me%2Fstumurray&data=04%7C01%7C%7C13a4762b2e7a4eec704c08d8ce144fd8%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637485933921646622%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=7ALjUrufrzKEHZQshhS0UULW7nYvtKi9MS6QGGDF6HM%3D&reserved=0> Thanks - Stu -- Sent from Gmail Mobile Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with the costs involved. 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If you want to show your support to the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.paypal.me%2Fstumurray&data=04%7C01%7C%7C13a4762b2e7a4eec704c08d8ce144fd8%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637485933921656617%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=OaYVBr9gQEH3HVmDqCjzIG6ay3cfbB8i2J0%2BP5OAscI%3D&reserved=0> Thanks - Stu -- Sent from Gmail Mobile
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