Recently I spoke with several 35s5 owners who told me they had mostly
abandoned racing their boats because ratings (under 120) were unfair
for the boat. They claimed that very experienced crews could sail a
perfectly tuned 35s5 to 120 or better, but that most people couldn't
and a rating should be based on typical performance ratios rather than
a hard to achieve combo of excellent crew and rig tuning. Is this
bellyaching? When do boats get an unfair rating? A boat we sailed on
rated at 129 and did well in races, but perhaps the owner was fanatical
about it. He claimed he was a lazy racer and still won, but this
conflicts with other comments. How do some boats, such as an Elite 326
get a rating that is so easy to sail to or beat, while others have an
uphill battle?
A local J24 racer told me that a boat should NOT be rated to anything
less than it's best possible performance. Does this make sense and how
often and fairly is it applied?


RB
35s5...the better boat
NY