Quick PY Question

One thing that i find weird is the ranting on the Phantom forum about the PY dropping.  I mean come on guys you cant all be deluded about how great a sailors you ALL are.  Its well known up and down the country the the Phantom was/Is a Bandit.  Nothing wrong with that but you cant expect it to stay like that forever, the statistics are catching up with you!  The top sailors will always win, just look how well Hawksie is doing in the current series off a further reduced number!  In conditions so far that have not suited the Phantom.  If the PY drop is killing the class then you have to look at why people bought the boat in the first place.  Stretch has it right, hike harder, sail harder and your 5 point drop pales to insignificance!  As for Split PY numbers, good luck trying to enforce that boys, we have tried with the D1, its not happening.  its too hard for clubs and the RYA to split the data.  I guess in the long run you will see less phantoms sailed at salty locations.  The way to counter act this is to push for more salty sailors so the returns bring the number back up.  The Phantom has grown into a great class, so why not class race the thing and enjoy it.  if you are worried about handicap position then you will always need to change in the hunt for the next lipstick class that's been lightened, stiffened, carboned and still using its number relating to boats built in the 80's!!   

By the way, this is not a dig at the class.  its a statement of fact.  The PY system is finally catching up with the Phantom.  Keep enjoying what is a great boat and understand like the rest of us that if you sail better then the next man you will win.  Stop relying on a spreadsheet.

 

I suspect the couple of posters who made the rants on the Phantom forum are sea sailors or they have non-epoxy/non-carbon mast phantoms (some still do), so they are going to feel the effects of a PY drop much harder.

 

I think most Phantom sailors acknowledge that the handicap had to come down from where it originally was. I bought my boat 2 years ago now, when I think the PY was 1038 and I was very comfortable with that. When it was new, I suspect the previous owner was sailing it on something over 1050, so he must have been laughing on PY in comparison. It's now 5 years old and the PY has dropped to 1020 in my club and I haven't really noticed my results getting any worse (actually they're probably getting better as my sailing is improving). When conditions suit you still do well, when they don't some other boat will walk over you.

 

Personally I'm amazed that a 40+ year old design for single chine plywood construction is so close in performance to something like a 300. It can't fall much further otherwise it will be at the same PY as the 300, and that can't be right, or it means design really hasn't moved forward at all.