W
hat do people mean
when they talk
about optimising an
IRC rating? There
are two possibilities- the first is configuring a boat to best
suit the type of sailing you’re doing and
the conditions in which you expect to get
your best results. To take a broad
example, inshore windward-leeward or
round the cans races tend to be
postponed on a calm day until the sea
breeze fills in, so relatively little time is
spent racing in winds under 8-10 knots.
On the other hand, offshore events are
run more or less irrespective of the
weather. Therefore, over the course of a
season it’s not unusual to spend a long
time racing in five knots of breeze, or
often even less.
Alternatively, a discussion about
optimisation may be talking about trying
to exploit perceived loopholes in the rule
that favour a certain type of set up. In the
lastcoupleofyearstherehasbeena
IRC: THE SECRET
PAUL WYETH30 Yachts & Yachting March 2018 yachtsandyachting.co.uk