When optimizing for PHRF, Time to buy new sails,I am considering using a Max headsail of 155% to eliminate the 3 sec penalty for over155% headsail.
How much of a performance hit will I suffer for the loss of sail area and overlap.
Add 6 sec I can I can pick up with the use of Roller Furling.
Current DRYA PHRF Rating 138. Could go to 147.
What is the experience of others.
Thank you
Don

depends - are the prevailing winds light or heavy in your area? If the wind is down, you want the bigger sail. If the wind is up, you probably can do ok with the 155.

Are you doing jib and main or spinnaker?

On Madcap we do really well with a 155 on a drum with a 147 rating. It does not seem to hurt me in light air against other PHRF boats. The 155 credit is 6, and drum is 3 for LMPHRF.

The light Lake Michigian summer winds have seemed to pick up the last couple years. I have found myself wishing I had a #2 or #3 up. I am going to go lose the drum to do sail changes next year and stay with a 155 which puts me at 144 for LMPHRF.

Thanks. Keep em coming. I will be spinnaker at 147, JAM will give me a 165 rating

155 is easier for crew to handle, so in short races you can get a few seconds each tack, just because they have it working well faster. That is if indeed they are fast enough to get it in without the need for skirting and the driver is working with them to that end.

Problem with the 163 is that it really likes the 1400 lbs in wind over 14.

and it also likes more of an athlete in the trimming positions as that becomes a mandatory two man job. the Vee Jays use 155 on rollers.

Don,
I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to racing the J/30 in PHRF.
Wildcat is class configured with 163% headsail, longer pole and oversize (for PHRF) kite. Western Lake Erie is similar to Lake St. Clair with shallow water (20 ft or less), light to moderate air, etc. etc. In 2010 Wildcat won PHRF western Lake Erie boat of the year and 3 years in a row won first in class in the Mills Race(including 4th overall in 2009, 1st overall in 2010 and 3rd overall in 2011 - beat by a Hobie 33 and a j/105) . All that done in its class configuration.
The only real test against other J/Boats was 2010 Bay week. In our fleet we raced two other J/30's, owing each 3 secs. Wildcat took first in class including beating the other J/30's both boat for boat and on corrected time.
My recommendations for PHRF; forget the 155, forget the roller furling, keep the 1 ft longer pole and oversize kite and learn to sail the boat fast.
You're not that far away, next spring come down for a sail or two or three.
In my opinion, Rod J knew what he was doing when he configured the boat. You don't need to mess with success.

Some history on the headsail and spin pole length from an old J/30 page...

The class legal number 1 is a 163% genoa. For a bit of history, here's how it came to be. When he sailed the prototype, Rod Johnstone felt the boat was slightly underpowered in light air conditions, so he specified a 163% genoa and a 1 foot longer than the J dimension spinnaker pole and spinnaker.

I could be quite wrong... perhaps the Johnstones could correct me.

The story I heard is that when they took the 30 down to SORC in 79? they found it to be underpowered downwind, so they added 1' to the pole and a larger chute. IOR at the time then allowed them to make the overlap on the genoa larger for free. PHRF at the time wasn't an issue.

Because we frequently get stronger winds, and I am frequently under crew weight (I have mostly female crew) I am actually considering dropping the #1 all together and picking up the rating credit for the max 140 headsail. I have a big roachy main now and we sail like a hot damn with the #2 up right down to 5-7 kts of breeze. Anything near 10 and we feel overpowered with the 163 up.

If I don't do that, the next new sail order will be for a 155.