Hi Mike

good point...It is unfair .. but that is life for a mixed fleet race.... some weekends it's all upwind... others it's all down wind. c'est la vie!

Handicapping is actually less of a problem for this kind of race. Two heavy spin cats should perform pretty linearly.
So the fudge factor (texel, ISAF, PN) is a constant. The real separator is the light air races where 1 hole = hours within the OD fleet.

Any non linear performance difference between the F18 and the N20 (eg the better reacher etc) could be solved by allowing different cut spinnakers for the N20's. (uh oh... another can of worms).

I agree, the race is for the racers and I assume they want two independent races. The gallery will do what it does best as well!