Handicapping the number of headsails

Unlike a windward-leeward course, an offshore race can experience every wind angle and specialty sails have been developed to cover that range. Boats with an optimized sail inventory have an advantage, but the IRC handicap rule is trying to address the issue.

In a report from Australian Sailing, there is a new IRC rule coming into effect which looks at the number of headsails carried on board. Prior to this rule change, IRC did not rate the number of headsails onboard a yacht, instead only rating the largest sail area and largest headsail luff length.

Multiple headsails can give a distinct advantage in two cases:

• Flexibility in sail wardrobe for varying conditions.
• The ability to increase headsail area by multiple headsails set flying, particularly for larger boats and in a reaching configuration.

The rule revision does not limit the number of headsails that maybe carried by a yacht. It does, however, apply a rating effect where this count goes above or below a base number.

A boat with a greater number of headsails than the base will see a TCC increase, and when less than the base will see a TCC reduction. This base number is dependent of the LOA of the boat ranging from a minimum of 2 up to 5 sails (LOA 5m to 20m).