Informative post by Kett

There will always be a place for a one number rating system like PHRF especially for WNR races. I don’t think multinumber rating systems that require the RC to determine wind speeds for scoring are going to be popular for those races.

- Legacy PHRF will be gone as Tom Beery retires in a year or so. At present his GYA rating committee is dormant. Tom tried to get someone to continue, but there were no takers. It was VERY time consuming to collect data from races around the GYA, etc. It only makes you realize how much he did for us.

- ORA1 is a two-wind-band multi-rating system that is VPP base thru ORREz. It requires the RC to determine the wind speed. However, if you use the GPR (general purpose rating) on the certificate, it can be used as a one number rating just like PHRF. Remember the BASE BOAT in this system is the J105. So if you want to calcuate your GPR, you subtract the IR# of the J105 from your boat's IR#. Thus, you have "PHRFerized", your IR#.
The IR# by definitions is a mix of VMG Up & Dn (1/3 each) and three reaching angles (60°, 90° ,120°, 1/9 each), for 10 and 12 knots. It is designed to best approximate the relative ratings of PHRF. It is Time On Distance and the number of seconds it takes for your boat to sail a mile. This, a number like 650 is common.

- ORREz in 2023 now has added a one-number VPP rating (same VPP program as ORA1) called ORREz/PHRF on its certificate. In this case, ORREz has used a different BASE BOAT, the Farr 40, to "PHRFerize" your boat's IR#. Thus, there is no difference in the one-number ratings BETWEEN boats in the GPR of ORA1 and the ORREz/PHRF. The only difference is the use of different BASE BOATS (J105 or Farr40) used to calculate that one-number rating.

I understand the confusion over the multiple options. But it is the exact same VPP program producing these one-number ratings.

Long live PHRF. We need it to keep as many people sailing as possible.