"Winter Sail" and PHRF

[brackish]

This post is so that Greene and you other midwestern and northeastern sailors with your discussions of winter haulouts and many inches of snow can go green with envy.  Yesterday was one of those rare winter days when the temperature hit 70 and the wind was 10 or so out of the south so, much to the Admirals dismay, I dropped everything and went sailing.  Only one other boat out, an Oday 22 owned by a guy who started sailing in the spring and is out, like me, every chance he gets when the weather is right.  So two boats on a big lake, you now what they say, there is a race going on.  I ran wing and wing straight up lake and overtook the Oday which was doing broad reach jibes in the same direction.  Turning to go back and on a beat, I spotted him about a quarter of a mile and ended up about a quarter mile ahead of him when we had covered the three miles back to the Marina finger. 



But I figured I probably was the faster boat on paper, so I went to the U.S. Sailing Association page that lists PHRF's and sure enough the Oday rated 279.  I think the Compac 23 (bowsprit version) rates 252, but when I went to the Compac section to check, all Compacs had been eliminated from the list.  Wonder why? They used to list every model.

[jthatcher]

What a great way to spend the day!     It is nice that you are in a position to take advantage of days like you described.   The bright side of yesterday in North East PA was that we got to see the sun after 5 somewhat gloomy days!   But,  temps in the thirties reminded us that it is winter....  That,  along with the fuel bill on my kitchen table!   

Keep sending us pics to help keep our dreams of next spring alive as we look forward to our first major snowstorm!   Jt

[Salty19]

Nah, we're not jealous...we get to make snowmen and snow angels on Christmas!!!  OK, who am I kidding...

There are several faster PHRF sailboats on our lake, but none have been a challenge for our CP19 in terms of overtaking them.  Our boat is setup well, which I admit probably helps.

I suspect it's the human factor, not the boat, that is the determining factor.  I suspect with equal skills, a number of dockmate boats could overtake the 19 easily with their Precisions, Hunters and Catalina's if they set their oat up right and knew what they were doing.

My guess is you're simply a better sailor than the Oday.

Reminds me of the second time I used the drifter.  Winds were light, about 5ish and built to around 8 or 9 (pushing the limits of the nylon drifter).  During the light periods, the other sailboats made little progress as we were making way easily.  The look on a Hunter 235 captains face was priceless as we slid by and waved.  His face said "OMG I just got smoked by a Compac!!".

[kickingbug1]

  smoked by a com-pac with a hankie no less. dare i say that you "blew" him away

[Bob23]

Years ago, I was enlightened as to the international official rules of sailboat racing. I'm sure that most of you guys and ladies know this but it's worth repeating: If there are 2 or more sailboats on a body of water sailing in somewhat close proximity, it's a race. If I happen to win, it was a race. If I happen to loose, well, it really wasn't a race after all- just a couple of guys having fun with thier sailboats. See how easy racing really is?
   Brack: Don't think you can make us REAL winter guys jealous. It takes real skill to tack back and forth on the driveway with a snow shovel! Top that!
Bob23