I haven't had a chance to complete the survey, but will be doing it today. Just wanted to make a comment on the use of handicap for the event. Typically, I try to avoid handicap racing. I have sailed many keelboat events under both PHRF and IRC, and while some had great competition, others were just way too spread out to be fun.

Last week, I sailed the Thai Cat Regatta under Texel ratings. They used two starts, the first with Texel of 104 or less- so F18, F16, F20, A cat (w/spin), Tornado, and Spitfire. The second start was Hobie 16s, Dart 18s, 16 Squares, etc. I was actually very impressed by how close the racing was, especially between the F16s and F18s. I admit that tactically I was more concerned about the F18 subfleet, but we also made plays on other boats when appropriate. Unlike what Dave said, I felt that the regatta was less about equipment than the sailors. The winner was a three time olympian, second sails for Team Boskalis, third won a Hobie 16 youth worlds, etc.

I will be sailing in a Texel fleet again this weekend, this time on a F20carbon, and with a much more amateur fleet here in Singapore. It will give me a chance to evaluate the idea again. Is there a reason we don't use Texel in the US, seems to work very well worldwide?