PHRF Ratings

THE RATING PROCESS

Racing in Brevard county is generally done under some form of the national PHRF (Performance Handicap Racing Fleet) handicapping system. This is a system whereby the performance, in actual races, of many examples of each class or type of boat is compared to the performances of the other classes of boats in the race. As a result of using this system for nearly 50 years, a huge national database has been generated, giving the performance of every type of boat raced in the US. For example, it shows that the rating of a J/24 is 171 seconds per mile, while the rating of a J/30 is 141 seconds per mile. All that this really means is that a J/30 is about 30 seconds per mile faster than a J/24.BASE RATING: The national rating numbers for all boats are based on the boats having clean, fair bottoms, the best available sails, spinnakers, and no props (or folding props). Many places around the country administer their own PHRF fleets, and everyone recognizes that not every boat chooses to fly a spinnaker or use a folding prop, etc. So everyone has modifications to the Base PHRF Rating to try to equate these less-than-perfect boats to the more competitively maintained boats that they are racing against. We at MYC have our own set of modifications to the Base PHRF Ratings, and that is where the PHRF Rating Application Form comes in.

In order to determine what differences that your boat has compared to the ideal, we ask you how big your jib is, is it made of exotic materials, what kind of prop you have, etc. We also ask about the dimensions of your rig, and your draft, since many boats like the Catalina 30 come in shallow draft or deep draft, standard rig or tall rig, etc. Each of these variants has a different Base Rating. Send me in a Rating App and I will send you a rating.

You need a PHRF rating from MYC to race in most of the races in the county, including Rum Racing.

Contact Del Wiese with any questions at 321-773-4884 or del@sailordel.com

Sailing and Racing on Florida's Space Coast