Wabbit Wule?

April 27, 2011

Our report earlier this week on the new lightweight planing sportboats and PHRF stirred up some controversy, so we're posting this follow-up story.

Quoting our previous report, Pete Rowland, former owner of the Wylie Wabbit Furrari, wrote: "In 1998 the Wabbit Wule was established because of the sinking of one Wylie Wabbit. The board said to race PHRF you must be at least 19 feet long and have a 400-pound keel. Are you sure the above is true? I'm curious as to the origins of the above statement. Maybe some one can shed some light on why the PHRF committee passed a rule requiring a keel weight and length, but I'm not so sure it was motivated by a Wabbit sinking."

We posed the question to PHRF board member Kame Richards of Pineapple Sails. Here's what he wrote back:

"Everything that follows should be interpreted as coming from me personally, and does not represent the formal position of the PHRF Committee.

"The statement above referencing a 1998 Wabbit Rule has no foundation in fact. We have a sail plan here at work for the Wylie Wabbit that is dated November 1981, which has to be reasonably close to its design date. The Wabbit is 24 feet long, so the purported rule had no impact there. The keel weight on the Wabbit was always 440 pounds, so the purported rule had no impact there either. And why would the rule wait 17 years to do nothing?

"I am of the opinion that the Wabbit was designed to be sure that it would meet the PHRF requirements that were in effect at the time. Tom Wylie did not petition the PHRF Committee to make an exception for his boat. He simply read the rule and worked within it. I know of no rule preventing someone else from doing that today.

"The part of the PHRF rule that is causing all the trouble is very much older than 1998. The basic problem was (is) planing boats. The purpose of this section of the rule was to create a filter to eliminate boats the Committee felt would be difficult to rate against conventional displacement boats. How does one rate a 505 or a Flying Dutchman or an International 14 against a Ranger 26 or an Islander 30? In my opinion, we still don't know how.

"If there is an 'anti-rule' rule, it was likely against the Venture 21. It is (not was) a rocket ship of a little swing-keeler which could readily plane in windier conditions. The PHRF filter was set to eliminate this boat, for the reasons described above.

"I agree there is a problem, but somewhere there needs to be limits. PHRF has some limits that some people don't like. If we move the PHRF limits, there will still be some people who don't like the new limits. Where does it end? Possibly it ends at 19 feet and 400 pound keels.

"Why not start your own rating system? Maybe the NCSBHC (Northern California Sport Boat Handicapping Committee). At your first meetings, you can establish your own filters for what type of boats you intend to rate. You can set length limits, weight limits, sail area limits, anything you want. You can indeed decide if you want to rate foiling Moths against Vipers against sailboards with conventional sails and sailboards with kite sails. You can decide if you will allow the El Toro a rating certificate. You can join YRA and US Sailing, and petition yacht clubs to hold races for your classes. You can select venues and dates that make sense for your classes. I don't think you will find anyone blocking this move. I will personally support it and lobby earnestly on your behalf."

So how did the legend of the 'Wabbit Wule' originate?

For an experiential viewpoint rather than an analytic one, we turn to Marianne Armand of the Jeanneau 35 Sun Fast Mon Desir: "It would be nice if planing hulls could be kept out of a division of full keel boats. Two years ago in the Jazz Cup we had a Wabbit in our fleet. We saw them at the start and were flummoxed as to why this planing boat with two guys and a trapeze were starting with us and just figured it was a fluke.

Mon Desir in the 2009 Jazz Cup. ©2009 norcalsailing.com

"When we crossed the finish line in Benicia having raced a solid race and having battled to beat every one of the boats in our division boat for boat, we were once again flummoxed as to why we didn't get the gun. We found out that the Wabbit had been added to our division at the last minute because they didn't know where else to put them, and we never saw them again after the start. They beat us by more than eight minutes uncorrected and we owed them time! We felt like we were robbed. I'm all for getting people out there... but apples and oranges racing together... doesn't work. Leaves the apples feeling like... well... applesauce."