Rating Wars
Chris,
You got hosed to be sure. As has been shown, the base rating varies between 114-117-assuming deep keel, 155's, etc. Note that SOME local PHRF areas DO give credit for smaller LP genoas and spinnakers and some other things, but most do not-that will depend on your local board. New sails, BS adjusters, etc. are not usually penalized. In this configuration, the 38's easily sail to the rating-BUT must be sailed correctly-like any other boat.
Don't expect, for example, to sail to the rating without everyone on the rail if it is breezy-or if it is light, with everyone in the cockpit, or with a full load of cruising gear aboard. No boat will do this. Someone said something about .2 knots by putting a big guy on the rail-this is true (or nearly true). All boats must be sailed on their lines (both fore and aft and in terms of heel) if they expect to meet their potential. The other very obvious thing is bottom condition-don't expect to be compettitive without a well prepared bottom.
Great comments by Windjunkee also. BTW- the old 32-2's, when originally raced, were racing under the old CCA or the early IOR, and in SOCAL back in those days it was quite common to see 165's as the #1 genoa-the 150 was #2!! Those handicap formulas did not hammer the 165's the way PHRF does, and so folks went with the big Genny's. Most old 32's and 35's that were raced when new had these sails..
As for Bloopers,
ARRGGHHHH!! STAY AWAY!! They are the devil's creations!!! Horrible to sail with because they are so cantankerous to trim, the only real benefits are had when sailing very, very deep (which we now know is not usually fast anyway). The tend to "push" the boat to leeward, so that although the speed increase was either nothing or maybe .25 knots, the boat was "dragged" to leeward-thus improving VNG downwind-but only sllightly, and almost never worth the hassle, expense, and loss of maneuverability! They are hard to trim because they tend to be caught behind the main and/or get bad air off the spinnaker-so thay had to be flown WAY out-halyard out, tackline out.... One of my happiest days in offshore sailing was when boat design came around to where there was little advantage in sailing so deep (death of IOR), and obviated the need for these spawn of satan!! Not that I have an opinion.....
Back to the 38 ratings-the biggest problem is the winged keel-these things are just plain slower because of all the extra area, and should net you a good credit under PHRF-you need to address this with the data already provided in this thread.
As for A-sails sizes-I built Roger's A-sail-wasn't that a "racing A-sail"? The max size for PHRF without penalty would be a girth and foot not to exceed 1.8 X J (although they are often slightly under for optimal shape), and
here are the MAX sizes for the 38 std. rig (50 X 16.25): SL: 52.59; SLE: 46.8;
SMG: 29.25;SF (AKA SFA):29.25. In reality, the SMG on an A-sail will be a bit smaller, but these are the defined limits.
Since we are doing this, for a conventional spinnaker, the limits are still 1.8 X J for SMG and SF (29.25), and the luffs cannot exceed the I measurement, or 50 feet (max. allowable luff sometimes varies by up to 5%-smaller depending on the PHRF region).
Hope this helps!
Cheers