big tom yacht scoring

How Racing Rating Rules Work (and how to maximize yours)

February 25, 2021

Racing ratings can seem confusing and overwhelming. Our team at Quantum is here to help you understand how ratings work, decipher the various systems, and help you maximize your ratings to ensure your best shot at the podium. Our sail designers have outlined a few key elements about ratings. Understanding them can help you get the most out of your racing rating.

Rating rules are a powerful tool that allows a variety of yachts to compete on a level playing field. If you race a tortoise against a hare (assuming the hare is smart enough not to take a nap in the middle of the race), the hare will always win. Not really a fair match-up. The same goes for non-one design racing. Being the first yacht over the finish line, while impressive, does not necessarily mean you sailed the best race comparatively. Therefore, rating rules come into play. It is important to understand how they work so you can work with your sailmaker and other specialists to optimize your program and level the playing field, so your crew’s talent shines.

There are four main rating rules: Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF), International Racing Conference (IRC), Offshore Racing Congress (ORC), and Offshore Racing Rule (ORR). We will give a brief overview of how each rating rule assigns a rating, why it is important to your program, and how Quantum can help make sure you have the best rating possible. While there are other rating systems, these are the four we focus on in this article.

The Rating Rules

In general, rating systems assign a value to a yacht or a particular yacht setup. This number is then used to correct finish times after each race. With all four rules, the most common way to score a race is to use a time-on-time (TOT) or a time-on-distance (TOD) correction. TOT corrections consider how long it takes to race; the TOD formula looks at the distance of the race. However, ORC and ORR ratings consider additional factors and have some flexibility for a custom correction formula.

PHRF is a simple handicap system, similar to the system used in golf. Considering the type of yacht, an assumed sail plan, and the team’s performance, a corrected-time handicap factor is assigned to the team. Races under PHRF rules correct times using TOD or TOT.

The other three rating rules are a bit more complicated. These rules use formulas to assign a rating to each yacht based on the yacht’s dimensions, construction, and design features. The formulas for IRC and ORR are closely guarded secrets; however, it is still possible for sailmakers, yacht builders, and other specialists to understand how various factors affect the rating. ORC has two categories of classification, ORC International and ORC Club. In this article and for most applications, we refer mostly to ORC-International rating that requires a measurement performed by an official and certified measurer. ORC has a published formula that gives designers information to analyze and data to work from.

IRC looks at several yacht elements from sail size to weight and beam. It compares yachts as a percentage and then assigns the yacht a rating that is corrected using TOT.

ORC and ORR take their rating system to the next level by using complex formulas to predict the speed of the yacht with a given setup. These formulas are often referred to as Velocity Prediction Programs (VPP). There are a few ways these ratings can be used to score a race, including TOT, TOD, and performance curve scoring.

What Goes Into a Rating?

A large amount of data is plugged into IRC, ORC, and ORR proprietary formulas that generate ratings for various conditions and situations. For example, an ORR certificate has multiple standard and custom ratings for specific events such as the Newport Bermuda Race. Common data used to determine ratings includes hull data, sail measurements and types, crew and yacht weight, waterline, hardware, sailing trim, and other rigging data and measurements.

How Ratings Change

Due to several factors, your ratings can change even though your yacht hasn’t. The most common factor in rating change is sail size. Smaller sails equal a better rating across the board, and, since all modern sails shrink with use, your ratings can change over time. Every time you fold, hoist, or tack your sails, they shrink a bit, not unlike the way a piece of paper shrinks each time you crumple it up and re-flatten it. Some sail constructions, such as those using a lot of Dyneema, tend to shrink more than carbon sails.

General yacht specifications from the yacht manufacturer are often used to compile data points; however, each yacht is unique, so having the correct data for your yacht and rig can go a long way toward improving your rating.

How to Optimize Your Rating

Because IRC, ORC, and ORR ratings consider a number of elements that affect the speed of the yacht, there is a lot of room to tweak your setup to optimize your yacht for a particular racing rule. Sometimes a simple sail re-measurement is all it takes to better your handicap. That can be a real game changer when you are racing the 333-mile Chicago-to-Mackinac, the 475-mile Annapolis-to-Newport, or the 2,225-mile Trans Pac.

PHRF is harder to optimize due to the way ratings are assigned. Since the rating is based on boat type, it assumes these boats all use the same sail inventory. The best way to improve your PHRF rating is to improve your performance by using the sails your handicap is rated for. Quantum can help you review your rating and inventory and ensure the form is accurate. Our team can also explore how your regional PHRF committee measures the impact of switching from a pole and symmetrical spinnaker setup to a fixed-pole asymmetrical setup, as that can also greatly affect your handicap.

Whether you have an existing rating or need to apply for a new one, there are essentially three ways you can get the best, or at least a better, rating.

Option 1: Maximize what you’ve got.

This is the most common, easiest, and cheapest way to improve your rating. Bring your rating certificate and your largest sails to your local Quantum loft. We will start by verifying the sails listed on the certificate and re-measure them. We’ll discuss your yacht and sail plan, regatta schedule, overall program, and where you want to take it. This gives us a better understanding and helps us identify other areas that can improve your rating. Sometimes it is as simple as helping you re-submit your form with updated sail sizes.

Option 2: Deeper Analysis and Inventory

If your team is looking to take things to the next level or has a specific goal in mind, Quantum can help guide you through the second option. It is a bit more expensive than the first option but yields results. After assessing your current rating, goals, and budget, we will help coordinate and guide you through a whole-yacht optimization process using our in-house design team as well as other industry partners.

A Quantum sail designer will look carefully at your existing inventory, identify gaps or areas that could be improved, make recommendations for tweaking current sails, and add new or swap different sails to your inventory. We’ll run various simulations to dial in your rating based on your sail plan and help you create a long-term plan focused on optimizing your rating and sailing objectives.

Then we’ll work with other industry experts and review your yacht for potential changes or upgrades. These experts will run multiple analyses of your setup and identify areas that could benefit from re-evaluating your measurements, such as weighing your yacht to get an accurate weight instead of using the rules default values. 

Option 3: Weather and Location Ratings

The third option builds on the first two options and fine-tunes your rating for specific wind conditions and/or locations. Working within our network of industry experts, we’ll gather historical weather data for a particular event and run multiple simulations for the venue to further optimize your overall plan. This is a common practice with professional and Grand Prix racing teams

WHICH RATING DO I NEED?

This is a rather complex question that ultimately involves weighing and prioritizing factors that answer other questions. Is there an offshore race you’ve always wanted to sail? A destination regatta with a variety of classes to compete in? How much value is placed on the potential outcome, thereby determining which event to sail? Ratings and measurement systems evolve, and your boat, using one rating, may be more favorable in the same race with a different rating in a different class or suited for a different race altogether. While we can’t recommend one system over another, we can walk you through your sailing program plans and goals and help you decide which is the best system and then optimize that rating.

Regardless of where your program stands, we are here to help you understand how rating rules work and guide you to a better rating so that you and your team get the most out of the hard work you put in to cross the finish line. Email our team at  [email protected] to get the process started. _____

Other Resources:

• US Sailing: Rating Rules and Handicapping Systems.
• US Sailng: Offshore Competition
• US Sailing: PHRF Fleet Contact Directory
• International Rating Certificate: Official Website
• Offshore Racing Congress: Official Website
• Offshore Rating Rule: Offical Website

The Discussion

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Minnesota Twins | ‘From St. Paul to the Hall’: Good night, St. Jack!

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Minnesota Twins

Morris becomes a world beater.

The Pioneer Press has chronicled the remarkable careers of these local legends since they were little leaguers.

And as we count down the days to the induction ceremony, we’re revisiting our coverage of the Saintly City’s Hall of Famers, publishing an article from our archive on each one. Today is Jack Morris.

Our new book, From St. Paul to the Hall, digs even deeper into the careers of these four special ballplayers. You can pre-order your copy at  store.twincities.com .

This article appeared Oct. 28, 1991.

Welcome home, Jack.

An improbable season in which two last-place teams met in one of the most exciting World Series ever played finally ended dramatically and appropriately Sunday night when St. Paul native Jack Morris pitched one of the finest games in Series history.

After Morris pitched 10 gutsy, scoreless innings, pinch-hitter Gene Larkin lifted a bases-loaded single over a drawn-in outfield with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning. Dan Gladden scored the game’s only run in Minnesota’s 1-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves in Game 7. The 55,118 fans at the Metrodome saw the first Series since 1960 that was won on the final swing of the season.

The Twins are the first team in baseball history to finish in last place one season and win the World Series the next. The Braves, losers of 97 last year, would have gained that distinction with one timely hit.

When Larkin hit a fly ball that was clearly deep enough to score Gladden, the Twins rushed in from the bullpen and the dugout to celebrate. Gladden had to fight his way through the mob at the plate to score the season’s final run. The team remained on the field, celebrating while “We Are the Champions” played over the stadium speakers.

Morris, who signed a lucrative contract in late January to return to his boyhood roots, fulfilled a lifelong dream with his Game 7 masterpiece. Pitching for the third time in nine days, Morris, perhaps the biggest reason for Minnesota going from last place in 1990 to first place this season, threw 125 pitches, allowed seven hits and struck out eight Sunday. He posted a 2-0 record and a 1.17 series earned-run average to earn Most Valuable Player honors.

Reliving Jack Morris’ Minnesota Moment: Game 7 of 1991 World Series

“My family was here and my kids were in the stands for this,” said Morris, who started opening night, the All-Star Game and the season’s final game. “Someday they’ll look back at this and be thrilled that was their daddy out there.”

He said that when playing whiffle ball against his brother, Tom, in Highland Park, he dreamed of pitching a seventh game, but “never this long.” The only previous pitcher to throw more than nine innings in a World Series deciding game was Christy Mathewson in 1912. And he lost.

Manager Tom Kelly said the only way he could have taken Morris out “was with a shotgun.”

Morris even offered to pitch in Saturday’s Game 6 11-inning classic.

“He’s a horse, just a big horse,” pitching coach Dick Such said. “When you get a racehorse like that, you send him out there and you know he won’t stop until the race is over.”

“Hindsight is 20-20 but this is why the Twins signed Jack,” reserve infielder Al Newman said as best he could with a voice hoarse from shouting on the field. “From the first day of the season he was the guy. That’s why the Twins signed him. He was spectacular.”

So was the series. When the champagne finally dries in the clubhouse, when the last bit of litter is picked up from the victory parade, and whenever the World Series is ever brought up for hot stove or summer conversation, this will be talked about as one of the finest ever, a true autumn classic.

Sunday’s was the fifth game of the series won in one team’s final at-bat, the fourth won on the game’s final swing, and the third to go extra innings — all World Series highs. It was just the second time a seventh game went into extra innings. The previous time was in 1924 when Walter Johnson was the only Big Train around and pitched Washington past the Giants 4-3 in 12 innings.

“I’m drained mentally, physically, every way,” Newman said. “Every game was a one-run ballgame. It seemed like every time you turned around a pitcher was making an awesome pitch. I’m surprised I don’t have ulcers. I’ll go get checked tomorrow.”

“It’s kind of a mixed feeling,” said designated hitter Chili Davis, who provided much of the offense this season. “It’s a little bit of joy, a little bit of relief. They had opportunities to score and we had opportunities to score. And every time it was Ron Gant and Terry Pendleton who were always coming up and I would be saying, ‘Not this time, not this time.’”

The Braves put runners on first and third with one out in the fifth and didn’t score. They put runners at second and third with nobody out in the eighth and didn’t score. The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the eighth and didn’t score and had runners at first and second with no one out in the ninth and didn’t score.

Of course, they were battling tough pitchers. Atlanta starter John Smoltz, a 10-year-old in Michigan when Morris began his big-league career in Detroit in 1977, nearly equaled his boyhood hero. Pitching on three days’ rest himself, Smoltz was ahead in the count throughout the night and held the Twins scoreless for 7 1⁄3 innings before giving way to the bullpen.

It was the hook Morris never got, though he nearly got it after the ninth. Kelly said he was ready to bring in a reliever until Morris persuaded him not to. Morris told Kelly and Such that he was fine, that his fastball still had life, that he wasn’t ready for his season to end. “You could tell by the look in his eyes that he wasn’t tired,” said Such, who convinced Kelly to stay with his workhorse. Replied Kelly: “It’s just a game. Let him go.”

It’s that sort of attitude, that sort of work ethic that made the Twins sign Morris in the first place. Known as one of baseball’s finest big game pitchers, Morris gave the Twins the workhorse Kelly so often begged for in the 1990 last-place season.

Morris delivered, leading the team in innings and victories (22 including four during the postseason).

Morris’ most impressive moment was an eighth-inning jam he worked out of dramatically and emotionally. He kept the Braves from scoring on a second-and-third, no-out situation by getting Ron Gant to ground out on a dribbler to first, then getting Sid Bream to ground into an inning-ending 3-2-3 double play.

Morris went out and set the Braves down in order in the ninth and 10th, struck out one batter and didn’t allow a ball out of the infield. Then the Twins came in and began the final rally of the season.

Gladden led off by stretching a soft hit to center into a double off reliever Alejandro Pena, and went to third when rookie of the year candidate Chuck Knoblauch bunted him to third. The Braves then walked both Game 6 hero Kirby Puckett and the struggling Kent Hrbek to load the bases for Jarvis Brown, who had gone into the game as a pinch-runner earlier.

Kelly sent in Larkin, the second-to-last hitter available, who delivered the key fly ball that landed over left fielder Brian Hunter’s head to end the game, the series and the season. “It was nerve-wracking,” said Larkin, whose bat immediately was grabbed by a Hall of Fame official who will take it to Cooperstown.

“A lot of people in Minnesota should feel proud today because I sure do,” Morris said.

“What more can you ask?” Kelly said. “He poured his guts out.”

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Long Holes Look Intimidating, but It’s the Short Ones That Often Befuddle Golfers

At the British Open at Royal Troon, a short hole called the Postage Stamp has ended many title runs.

By Paul Sullivan

The British Open at Royal Troon in Scotland this week might help answer a question vexing professional golf. Is the antidote to golfers hitting increasingly long drives creating holes that are even longer? Or is it the opposite: incredible shortness?

Troon, which is hosting its 10th Open this week, is famous for the Postage Stamp , the name given to its par-3 eighth hole, which is 123 yards on the card but may play under 100 yards this week if the tees are moved up and the pin is put in the front of the green. A tiny green surrounded by five bunkers, the hole has been a feature of the course since 1909.

It’s also a hole length that any golfer can hit. But under pressure, with the wind blowing and a tricky pin position, it’s a length that tests the skill of the most elite golfers.

This year, Troon will also have its opposite. It will have the longest hole in Open history , the par-5 sixth hole that will measure 623 yards. It beats by three yards the 15th hole at Royal Liverpool in last year’s Open.

In some ways, lengthening holes for top pros is akin to billionaires competing to have the longest yacht: It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. Pros hit the ball so far that length alone doesn’t deter them.

What does is the strategy inherent in the design of the hole. This is where these two opposites at Troon open up a robust debate among top architects as to which matters more today: extreme length or extreme shortness?

“Short holes just fascinate me,” said Ben Crenshaw , a two-time major champion turned golf course architect with his partner Bill Coore. “Some of the great short holes in the world provide a test of accuracy and bravery in a way that a lot of other holes don’t. The Postage Stamp at Troon has been the scene of a lot of carnage and bravery.”

“The long holes are always a test over there because of the conditions,” Crenshaw added. “You only hope that you don’t reach a long hole that’s into the wind. Then it becomes a very difficult proposition. It’s a test that you will see over there.”

There was a time not so long ago when some par-5s were considered unreachable in two shots. (Hitting a par-5 in two, instead of three, is an advantage for players looking to make up ground on the rest of the field, with a birdie or maybe an eagle.)

In 1991, John Daly captivated the golfing world with how far he hit the ball in winning the P.G.A. Championship as a rookie. Two years later, when the U.S. Open was played at Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course, Daly electrified the crowd when he reached the 630-yard 17th in two shots, then the only person to have done that in a tournament.

Some clubs have gone to extreme lengths to protect their holes. The 12th hole at Oakmont Country Club is one. Oakmont, which has hosted nine United States Opens and three P.G.A. Championships, is considered among the toughest golf courses in the United States. And the par-5 12th, always over 600 yards, was considered unreachable in two shots — until it wasn’t. So the last time the club hosted the U.S. Open in 2016, that hole was stretched to 684 yards, making it the longest U.S. Open hole ever.

Not everyone is a fan of that strategy.

“It’s almost impossible now to build a hole that’s unreachable in two, short of making it 700 yards, and I wouldn’t want to do that anyway,” said Tom Doak, who designed the Renaissance Club where the Scottish Open was played last week. “It’s better when the long hitter thinks he can get there, so he will risk getting in trouble to do it.”

Michael Hurdzan, a designer of Erin Hills, the longest course to ever host a U.S. Open at 7,845 yards, said being uncertain or uncomfortable is a better way to challenge elite players.

“If one were silly enough to play the maximum yardage on every hole, Erin Hills would total over 8,500 yards,” he said. “Legend has it that Patrick Reed did that on a practice day and shot 73. Length is not a strong deterrent to scoring among the elite players of today, but making them think is, and that is what a short hole can do.”

The ninth at Erin Hills is just 135 yards with bunkers surrounding it; it made many players at the 2017 U.S. Open unsure.

“The thing about Troon that I love is the capriciousness of the fairways,” Hurdzan said. “That ball can land and scoot one way or the other. They’re trying to hit it hard but now they have to hit it hard and true.”

While holes that are too long can open up a player to shooting many shots over par, they can also have the opposite effect in: removing the temptation to make a heroic shot.

So what needs to be done to keep these championship courses challenging?

Doak had several suggestions. One was a tee-shot hazard so challenging — say a deep, high-walled bunker — that it almost certainly costs players a stroke. Another is to penalize pros with a shot even they don’t like.

“My preference is to have the green bunkered more loosely on a par-5, so the player trying to hit driver off the deck might leave himself a 40-yard bunker shot,” he said. “Even pros hate those. That same bunker shouldn’t bother the guy playing three careful shots.”

A common feature is to put water near the green to claim any errant shots, but Hurdzan criticized that idea as uncreative.

“You want to reduce the margin of error as much as you can at the green, and you can do it with slopes,” he said. “We saw it at Pinehurst for the U.S. Open with all those roll offs. We’re going to see some of that at Troon because those greens have a lot of roll off. You want to design the Saturday and Sunday pin placements with small margins for error.”

Crenshaw, who restored Pinehurst No. 2 in 2011, said those sloping greens were what Donald Ross, the original designer who came from the links of Dornoch in Scotland, intended for championship golf even 100 years ago.

“Those greens defend it so well in so many different ways,” Crenshaw said. “An honest shot has to pull into that green with the proper strength. There are so many [curved] false fronts, if you don’t get the ball up into the green it will roll back on you. You have to play a conservative shot and not go for as many flagsticks. And when you do miss the greens, you’re faced with many delicate shots.”

This is where Crenshaw, a two-time winner of the Masters Tournament, said short befuddled great players more than long.

“Think of the 12th hole at Augusta.,” he said. “That will test you no matter what. It’s the shortest hole on that golf course. And it gets all the attention.”

Of course, at a championship venue like Troon, sometimes both short and long, can be problematic.

In 1982, Bobby Clampett playing in his first Open Championship at age 22 led by five after two rounds. He was off to a solid start with a few more birdies in the third round.

Then at the sixth, the longest hole back then at 577 yards, he carded a triple-bogey 8 that sent him reeling.

In 1997, Tiger Woods, who had turned professional the year before, was in contention at Troon until he took a 6 on the par-3 Postage Stamp hole. “That eighth hole at Troon tests you in all conditions,” Crenshaw said, “because the target is so small.”

And that may make it the better defense to today’s length debate.

Paul Sullivan, the  Wealth Matters  columnist from 2008 to 2021, is the founder of  The Company of Dads , a work and parenting site aimed at fathers. He is also the author of  The Thin Green Line : The Money Secrets of the Super Wealthy and  Clutch : Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don’t.  @sullivanpaul More about Paul Sullivan

Inside the World of Sports

Dive deeper into the people, issues and trends shaping professional, collegiate and amateur athletics..

Chaos at Copa América Final: Mayhem at Hard Rock Stadium near Miami raised questions about crowd control and security  just two years before the United States is set to co-host the World Cup in 11 cities.

Spain’s New Prince: A 2-1 victory in the Euro 2024 final extended England’s suffering but crowned a generational star  in Spain’s teenage forward, Lamine Yamal.

Long-Awaited Paydays:  After a decade without a college football game, 11,000 athletes are being paid $600 to participate  in EA Sports College Football 25.

A Violent Sport Sparks Controversy: The team behind the Ultimate Fighting Championship is betting big on Power Slap , a new and extremely dangerous competition with many detractors.

Battling Teens For Gold: The skateboarder Andy Macdonald, 50, has succeeded in a sport dominated by the very young. Now he’s headed to the Paris Olympics .