Yea I follow what you're saying. Once Roberts told me that as the ratings drop the mistakes you make on the course intensify expontentially. He's right about that. When you're rated so much lower than others and the boats weight and beam width don't come into play as an advantage you're basically ....

Some say you're buying a win when you sail a fast boat [ let them pay the money that one of these fast boats cost and see if winning is worth the cost] while they pat someone else on the back for winning on handicap with a H14. But when you sail both [fastest and oldest] and you go for the handicap to win some don't like it.

Its almost as if they are trying to stop the fast boats from competing...actually they just about have in some areas. I can remember seeing several SC/ARC22s racing in some areas where now there's not one entering much less racing.

thom