(Middletown, RI)- SAILING WORLD Magazine
recently published a handy article on sixteen PHRF racers that you can
own and campaign on a moderate budget. Written by the editorial crew of
Bill Brockway, Kurt Hoehne, Tony Bessinger, they provide some insight
on what might work for you, four of them are J/Boats (J/27, J/29, J/30, J/35)! Here's their commentary:"The cheapest way to race is on someone else's boat. But, if you have dreams of thrusting the silver urn aloft at the awards banquet while praising your crew, you'll have to buy your own ride. The one thing standing in the way, you say, is the expense. But with handicap racing, you don't have to spring for a big-ticket racer. There are many competitive older designs you can buy and campaign for the cost of a new sport utility vehicle.
The
most popular rating rule in the USA is the Performance Handicap Rating
Fleet. So, if you're interested in buying a used boat, and want plenty
of opportunity to race, it not only makes sense to buy one that fits
your budget but performs well under PHRF. You want a boat that rates
well in your region, but you don't want to sail a dog. A simple, but
effective way of measuring a boat's abilities without sailing it is to
determine its sail-area-to-displacement ratio. On most boats, the SA/D
ratio usually works out to be between 14 and 30, with higher numbers
representing lighter, faster boats. Cruiser/racers have ratios between
16 to 20, racer/cruisers have ratios greater than 20, and
high-performance racers have ratios 24 and above. A SA/D calculator can
be found at http://www.sailingusa.info/cal__sad_ratio.htmThanks to the Internet, searching for a PHRF winner is more fun than work, but to narrow down your search we've tapped our resources to narrow down your search to find 16 gems that shouldn't be overlooked. Please read more here on SAILING WORLD's website.
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