With racing commencing around the country, Mark Mansfield of Quantum Sails Ireland gives some thoughts on how to improve or optimise your boat's IRC handicap for this coming season.
In late 2024, the IRC Congress only made some very minor changes for 2025 certs, so these will not affect the majority of boat owners. What is still important, however are the big changes that came the previous year, January 2024, namely,
- IRC yachts can now have two valid certs.
- The numbers of jibs carried are now counted.
- Sails certified (new) after Jan 2024 must show a measurement stamp on the head area.
Ok, so some boats have already taken good advantage of these changes, and we would be advising most serious racers to likewise consider the following,
- Ensure you have the minimum number of jibs needed on one cert and the number of spinnakers.
- Get a second cert that is different from the primary cert so the likely wind forecast can determine which cert.
Below, I go into each of the two options above in greater detail. Other areas need to be addressed before the season, such as a really smooth and faired bottom finish. Also, ensure that any sails older than six months are remeasured to take advantage of shrinkage, which generally occurs.
1. Minimum number of jibs and spinnakers on one cert
The attached graph provided by the IRC rating office in 2024 shows the approx. rating changes for carrying various numbers of jibs. These show various boats and how carrying fewer jibs will affect their rating. We do not know exactly what these boats would have rated before the jib numbers change, but it is likely small boats would have a neutral change with three jibs, midsize boats like a Sunfast 3300 would be neutral with four jibs and bigger boats maybe neutral on 5 Jibs. So, for instance, if a Sunfast 3300 only carried two jibs, then a reduction of 2 points would be likely. If that boat also dropped spinnakers, then the reduction for that would also be a further point per spinnaker.
Remember that storm jibs and OSR jibs (heavy weather jibs) are not counted. The OSR jib is interesting. There is a formula for what size a jib can qualify as an OSR jib. It falls somewhere between a normal J3 and a J4. Maybe close to a J 3.25. What this means is that some boats that presently have slightly smaller J3s may now qualify for this sail as an OSR Jib. Get your sailmaker to check this. Also, if you were now buying a new J3, you would likely reduce the size a bit and make sure it qualifies as an OSR jib. Another condition for an OSR jib is that it must have cringles on it so it can be attached to the forestay if the twin groove breaks.
So an example of this is a J/109 which normally carries 3 or 4 jibs and 3 or 4 spinnakers, has one cert still with that option, and another cert with say 2 jibs and one spinnaker for Thursday evening racing where you likely know what the conditions will be like. The first cert is 1.006 and the other cert is 1.002. That 4 point difference equates to approx. 15 seconds in the hour, maybe close to 5 boat lengths per hour of racing.
A graph provided by the IRC rating office in 2024 shows the approx. rating changes for carrying various numbers of jibs
2. Two valid certs are now allowed
This can be a huge advantage, particularly as most regattas only specify that a cert that is being used must have a validity date of approx. 10 days before an event. This is to stop owners getting an advantage when they see a wind forecast close to an event and organising a quick new cert to take advantage of this. So now if you have two certs, both have a validity date of the start of the season, and so quite late before an event, sometimes the day before, an owner can choose which cert to use. Here are some options for a second cert.
Quantum TP 52, the winner of the 52 Super Series overall in 2022 and 2024
A—If you are a boat that uses both asymmetric and symmetric spinnakers and maybe has a decent length sprit, then one cert could be fully asymmetric with larger spinnakers, while the second cert could be a combination of symmetric and asymmetrics. Normally, if you are fully asymmetric, you can get approx. 15% more sail area for the same rating than a boat that has a pole. That is because the boat with the pole can square it back fully and go straight downwind, whereas a fully asymmetric boat will normally be approx. 20 degrees higher to keep the spinnaker powerful. So if a boat has two certs in medium and strong winds, when boats are close to hull sped, they go for the Symmetric setup and make big gains going much deeper on runs. However, in light winds, when a symmetric boat has to heat up anyway to keep the spinnaker setting, then the asymmetric Cert is better because they have approx. 15% more sail area.
B—If the forecast looks like there will be a lot of reaching, then an asymmetric cert would be better, as you have 15% approx. more sail area than a symmetric cert boat. Also, asymmetrics are more efficient at reaching than symmetric spinnakers. This is why coastal or offshore-orientated boats often go with asymmetric-only setups.
C—Often boats with two certs will have one specifically for day races where you know what the conditions will be like. Therefore, having one cert with very few jibs and spinnakers will result in a lower rating. The second cert then will have more spinnakers and jibs to cover longer regattas where conditions are more likely to change. Offshore boats will likely have a cert with more Jibs and spinnakers as they will have more varying conditions. So for example, the forecast for a 2 day regatta is showing strong winds all weekend and it will be mainly windward leewards. Then a boat can choose the first cert with fewer jibs and spinnakers as they can leave the light weather sails on the dock for the whole weekend.
A 44-footer new Carbon Fusion Mainsail on the Quantum Loft floor in Galway
Single furling headsail
One other point - Single furling headsails. If you look at the chart above, you will see a big reduction for the Contessa 26 of 6 points for using an SFH (single furling headsail) compared to carrying two headsails. For boats with overlapping headsails ( LP must be more than 1.3 times your J Measurement) then this could be a consideration. If your boat needs an overlapping headsail, maybe because the J Measurement is quite small, then there is a nice gain to be had here, particularly if you have a Heavy weather jib (OSR)as large as possible, maybe like a J3.25. This is particularly so if you have a neat underdeck furler or maybe a low profile furler like a facnor flatdeck. Then a very well-specced and sized headsail, say around 135%, could be used up to close to 20 knots; above that, the OSR jib could be used. It could be a very good option also for the growing IRC non-spinnaker fleets, which often have reduced crew numbers.
If you have any queries on the above or would like to talk to Yannick or me about some new sails for the 2025 season, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our details are below.
