J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Class legal mainsail

Dennis,
Are all J/30's in your district with non-class sails racing with PHRF rating, or just those with 155's and short poles? (ie are all J/30's with OD rating fully class compliant?) That seems not to be the case in the MA and LIS districts.

The interesting thing is, with a base PHRF rating of 144 minus 3 sec for the 163 and another 3 for the penalty pole, a Lake Michigan 30 could race PHRF w/ non class sails and still rate 138 (I think I understand that there is no penalty for sail cloth other then making a boat start at the base PHRF rating, instead of a pre ordained OD rating). Ugh... I'm just confused.

I formally requested Lake Michigan PHRF to reply regarding a change in rating if I sailed my J-30 OD with a kevlar (non-class material), tri-radial mainsail. The official reply was that PHRF does not rate sail material. I am currently racing with a four year old dacron main and a PHRF J-30 OD certificate at 138. If I raced PHRF with a laminated mainsail, what would my PHRF rating be, since the PHRF committee does not rate sail material? I have seen J-30's racing in one design regattas such as the NOOD with laminated mainsails and no apparent penalty (no apparent advantage either!). I tend to agree with the numerous comments that there is little (if any) advantage to laminates for mains in boats this size, so why continue the ban in the class rules?

If Michigan PHRF is similar to Midatlantic, they will tell you sail material is not penalized. They should also tell you that you then need to sail under the PHRF rating (144 from these messages), and take whatever adjustments are required by the bylaws, i.e., -3 for pole and -3 jib size.

The 144 Michigan PHRF rating makes sense to me - it nets you back to 138 when pole/jib are penalized, reflecting no penalty for material (although you should have a certificate that shows which configuration you're sailing). Midatlantic is, by their own words, "discouraging non-OD sailing" by making the PHRF base faster; i.e., 141, creating problems for J/30's with different inventories sailing in PHRF fleets - driving up the cost of ownership by requiring boats to buy both OD and PHRF sails. The class could ease this by relaxing the restriction on material (we all seem to agree it's not a performance penalty).

Bobbie...

If there's no difference in speed between a class main and Kevlar (or other high tech materials), why spend the money on them?

If Planxty were to get carbon fibre headsail and main and beat everyone on the racecourse, wouldn't people think its the sails and feel the need to keep up?

Zephyr a year ago won the NAs not with some high tech 3DL thingy, but with a simple paneled mylar headsail.

I think the class would like to not turn this into an arms race, but keep the J/30 an affordable boat to sail.

The bigger issue re: sail inventory in PHRF is the use of lighter weight cloth for spinnakers and genoas. Most PHRF boats sail with 1/2 oz chutes and light #1 jibs that are cut fuller than our class sails. In order to be competitive in light air PHRF racing (we all know the 30 is not a light air rocket) it really helps to have the lighter sailcloth.

The bigger issue re: sail inventory in PHRF is the use of lighter weight cloth for spinnakers and genoas. Most PHRF boats sail with 1/2 oz chutes and light #1 jibs that are cut fuller than our class sails. In order to be competitive in light air PHRF racing (we all know the 30 is not a light air rocket) it really helps to have the lighter sailcloth.

Dennis, if you are referring to the NA's in Chicago, Zephyr was using a new "dacron" from North called "Sharkskin" with a mylar headsail (I do think it was a tri-radial headsail). She was quite fast as I recall. However, the main and I believe also the spinnaker from Zephyr were purchased by Bill Anderson and are now on Hallel. Bill is fast, but not as fast as Zephyr. I also suspect the cost of a "sharkskin" dacron main from North would exceed the cost of composite mains from other suppliers.

I am not advocating an arms race. I just feel there may be some personal preference regarding materials, and obviously there can be advantages in lighter air with lighter materials and PHRF racing competition. Unfortunately, due to the variability of PHRF ratings, it will never be possible to keep all districts happy regarding this issue.

I think the class should consider expanding the allowable sails to include a light #1 jib and a 1/2 oz. chute, but restrict purchases to one headsail and one chute per year. This would prevent an arms race but allow boats to be more competitive in PHRF fleets, without an adverse rating impact. We should not forget that the majority of J-30's race primarily PHRF, and all owners share an interest in the success and viability of both the One Design fleet and boats racing PHRF.

Actually, I rather like PHRF-MAs approach, discourage people from deviating from OD configuration.