PHRF, or Performance Handicap Racing Fleet, is a handicap system that allows sailboats of different sizes and designs to race fairly against one another. Each boat is assigned a numerical rating that reflects its expected speed potential, and that rating is used to convert each boat's elapsed time into a corrected time for scoring.
The boat with the lowest corrected time wins its class.
PHRF rates the boat, not the sailor. A handicap reflects the design potential of the vessel under a competent crew with proper equipment, not the skill or condition on any given race day.
A PHRF rating is expressed in seconds per nautical mile. The number represents how much time, per mile of course, a boat owes other boats in its fleet or is owed by them.
A lower rating indicates a faster boat, and a higher rating indicates a slower one. A boat with a low rating must give time to a boat with a higher rating over the length of the course. If your rating is 120 and another boat in your class rates 180, you owe that boat 60 seconds of time for every nautical mile of the race.
Ratings are set by regional PHRF authorities based on a combination of design characteristics and observed performance over time. They may be adjusted as additional race data is collected.
The standard PHRF scoring method, and the one most common in North American club racing, is time on distance. The math is straightforward.
For example, a boat with a 180 rating sailing a six nautical mile course owes 1,080 seconds, or 18 minutes, of time over the course. That allowance is subtracted from its elapsed time to produce its corrected time. The boat with the lowest corrected time in its class wins.
A second method called time on time is also used in some races. Rather than subtracting a fixed time allowance based on distance, time on time multiplies elapsed time by a correction factor calculated from the boat's rating. Time on time is sometimes preferred for races where the actual sailed distance varies or where conditions change significantly during the race.
The Port Henry Regatta race committee will confirm the scoring method in use at the captain's meeting.
The Port Henry Regatta uses the rating tables published by PHRF New England, an independent handicapping authority for sailors across Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts Bay, the Gulf of Maine, and inland waters of the region. PHRF New England maintains base handicaps for a wide range of boat designs.
Boats entered in the regatta do not need to hold a PHRF certificate. The race committee assigns each entered boat a rating from the published PHRF New England tables based on its make, model, and sail configuration.