At the Dallas Regatta this past weekend (Great regatta- You should have been there! Thanks Hobie Fleet 23!), which was also the Area F Alter cup qualifier, one of the 20 foot spinnaker boat skippers indicated he felt he had unfairly lost the regatta because one of the six races turned into a "reach" which he indicated did not test sailing ability AND it was unfair since "The Portsmouth Numbers (used to handicap all the boats in the race) are based strictly on upwind/downwind courses."
<br>ALL the races were strictly A-C combinations in this particular regatta, however it was my understanding that the PN's are based on actual race results turned in to the PN Committee. I know personally many of the results turned in for me (and my boat for instance and I would assume also for many other boats) DID include courses which incorporated a "B", or reaching mark, as part of the course.
<br>Is it true the PN Committee ignores these results and only uses results of races where the course is strictly A-C (ie. upwind-downwind) or do they in fact include ALL the "bouy" race results (and therefore some reaching legs) in their calculations?
<br>If the former, then he would seem to have a valid point; but if the later, then the fact this was the ONLY reaching in the entire regatta would seem to largely negate his argument to me.
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<br>However, this whole issue brings up the difficulty of rating spinnaker-equipped boats against non-spinnaker boats, especially unirigs, since they have decidely different characteristics on one point of sail, downwind, compared to each other (and to sloop only boats). This is somewhat addressed under the "Distance racing" modification numbers which "ding" these sails additionally vs their number around the bouys.
<br>Not wanting to complicate PN's, but if people are going to make an issue of this how would this be best addressed?
<br>Looking for answers to the PN question, opinions and thoughts on this subject.
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<br>Sail on!
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<br>Kirt Simmons<br><br>Kirt Simmons
<br>Taipan #159, "A" cat US 48