How long have so many of us had the same exact sentiment as this?

It’s way past time to move on from PHRF for those of us that are relatively serious about racing. As much as we spend on boats, racing sails, gear, etc. we should not be relying on an outdated and relatively arbitrary rating system like PHRF. It’s time to move up to a Measurement-based VPP rating system. I have been doing some research on the different rating systems and this is what I think:

ORC is the answer because:

– ratings are objective, based purely on measurements and VPP science, and there are no appeals for ratings (unlike PHRF and ORR-EZ). ORR-EZ allows owner declared values just like PHRF.

– ratings are calculated for different courses and wind speeds, making results closer and more accurate (unlike PHRF)

– rules, certificates and data are completely open source for full transparency (unlike ORR, IRC or PHRF). ORR claims they keep their system proprietary in order to discourage attempts to design boats “to the rule”. The reality is the rich guys will hire the smart guys and will figure out how to “game the system”, meanwhile the rest of us will be left wondering why we traded one closed system for [...]