GBCA Discussion Forum

As someone who has been racing in the area for about the past 15 years either on OPB or mine (j80, o30). I stopped almost immediately after the decision was made to split the fleets into PHRF and ORC the classes effectively halved overnight. That was never going to work they are competing handicap systems. I do not want a 22 or 105 so handicap racing is what it is.

I still have a boat here, and for the last 2 years I've been watching the fleet sizes, and considering getting back in to racing, but the numbers are getting worse. I'm not going to consistently enter as I had in the past to race against 2-4 boats.

There are not enough boats on the bay to support multiple handicaps. Pick one or the other and accept the trade off in the systems or watch the numbers continue to dwindle.

Looks like Miss April is flying the Dragons!!!

Thank you we need help on this one.

I think a change away from PHRF would be a mistake.  I think it would result in less participation.  In my limited experience, ORC is a good system but ONLY if accurate measurement and verification is readily available. Also more care would need to be taken with ratings adjustments regarding wind strength etc.  This would require more effort and manpower than seems to be currently available.  Just my 2 cents.

And for the record i started Wednesday nights on a J 22 and ended up on a J 24 "On the Edge" with Steve Press.  Had a blast we got first place for the series.  So i do really do have friends that have J boats....

Hey go look at Bay cup 1.  The last time we were all out there. There were more PHRF boats than ORC boats.  Those are real numbers from a recent race.  If you drop over half the fleet i could see how it would be hard to race. I have nothing bad to say about ORC. I just think excluding boats is bad for racing.

Race was canceled not enough boats....we actually have a performance cup trophy from 2016.

Let hear some noise so we can get back to racing.

Nicole and Bob
PHRF has been a good class for a long time and i do not want to see it go away.  We need more boats out there not less. To try to get everyone lumped into ORC does not cut it for me. Boats not racing should get some attention. I am hearing about the extra money that people do not want to spend. I see this as a step backward and do not want to race against lighter faster boats.

I'd also like to see a PHRF Spin class. I would even like to see a return of the racer/cruiser classification.

I am seeing a push for everyone to go to the ORC class as PHRF spinnaker seems to be disappearing from the options for certain regattas. The options for the cruisers are to go to the Club Handicap Spinnaker class or ORC IF you have a certificate. Club handicap, I thought, initially was to encourage newer boats to enter into racing then you would graduate as some would say into the PHRF classes. Then there was the racer/cruiser green flag class which lasted briefly and also disappeared. Now PHRF spinnaker is not an option for what is to be the Premier regatta for GBCA. I know of at least 3 boats that will not be entering because of this. Racing a cruiser vs a J-Boat has never been a popular option and we are not interested in the club handicap class. PHRF donates to GBCA and supports all racing in the bay but now I can't race under that handicap. So I am going to throw this out there for discussion. I recently raced with LYC and we had a decent sized class even with an ORC class. This change is not something I am personally fond of.

Anyone else have thoughts on this shift?