Clearly, Bob has a deeper knowledge of this issue than I can claim. However, I think his totals are distorted by his casual insertion of the fact that some boats w/ primarily OD inventories also carry some sails outside class limits. I know several boats that race OD at the NA's that also have inventories of sails that are not class legal.
The problem with the class rules (in my opinion) is that they limit sail purchases to one set of class legal sails per year. This rule makes no note of PHRF boats, who can (depending on wallet size) buy limitless PHRF sails and still qualify for OD sailing under the one set of class sails per year rule. The only limit on sail purchases for PHRF/OD boats is set by the degree to which local PHRF governors insist on class inventory limits (this seems to vary greatly by district).
I still maintain that the best solution (offered before without any response from the class association) would be a slight expansion of inventory limits to include a light 1 and 1/2 oz chute coupled with a limit on total sail purchases of any kind (say 3 per year), in order to insure competitiveness for boats racing PHRF without incurring increased cost, while at the same time not causing conflict with local district regulations.
I also think several races at this years NA's would have been even more exciting if a 1/2 oz chute was available to use when conditions went light.
I know for a fact that purchase per year limits have been considered in the past; why not couple those with a slightly more PHRF friendly set of inventory limits?
