Pacific Handicap
Racing Fleet
http://www.phrf-nw.org
The NW Oregon and SW Washington PHRF Regional Sub-Council welcome you this racing
season. This area offers a variety of sailboat racing for the sailing enthusiast. For those
with smaller boats, clubs on the Willamette River and on Vancouver Lake offer one-design
racing formats. For the sailors racing boats on the Columbia River who do not have the
required number of one-design class boats for competition, handicap racing is available.
The majority of races on the Columbia River, as well as offshore, are held using a handicapping system known as PHRF. This well-established system has enabled skippers and
crew on different types of boats to compete on a “level” playing field. Each boat is given
a handicap based on boat type and performance history. Records are reviewed periodically
to verify the handicap fairness. Ratings are not based on formulas of boat parameters and
rule interpretations, but on a boat’s potential to win based on its actual performance and
speed potential.
If you are planning to race, it is important that you join PHRF-NW to obtain a rating certificate for your boat. Without a valid rating certificate, boats are not eligible to participate in
PHRF races. Annual membership dues are $45.
If you want to race in a single local PHRF race or weekend regatta before joining PHRF-NW,
and have not been a PHRF-NW member within the last two years, you can obtain a Guest
Membership for $15.00. This Guest Membership is only valid for 30 hours, but will allow
you to obtain a temporary rating from the race handicapper for this race or regatta only.
Should you then decide to continue in PHRF-NW races during the same calendar year, you r
Guest Membership fee will be applied as a partial payment against the annual PHRF-NW
membership dues.
CONTACT:
Mike Stainsby, [email protected], 503-310-0478
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