| Author | Message | ||
     CUPCAKE RATING ARTICLE IN SAILING WORLD MAGAZINE Rating: N/A |
"CUPCAKE" RATING ARTICLE IN 1999 SAILING WORLD MAGAZINE Early in 1999, Sailing World Magazine published an article by John Collins identifying the 9.1 Meter as one of a few boats blessed with a "cupcake rating". The article implied that sailors could win more easily due to the boat’s handicap rating under PHRF. This was not well received by the Class Commodore, who felt compelled to respond on behalf of the Class membership. Besides encouraging exploitation of PHRF’s obvious weaknesses and having no empirical data to support his arguments, Collins did a great disservice to 9.1 Meter owners who, as a result of the article, would face undeserved ridicule in PRHF fleets around the country. Letters from the Class Commodore to John Burnham, the editor of Sailing World and Terry Harper the Executive Director of US Sailing resulted in several sincere and friendly phone conversations with each. Mr. Harper apologized for the actions of Collins who he described as "out of touch". Sailing World also apologized and later published a Class response stating our displeasure and providing more accurate data. A short time later, a defensive letter to the Class Commodore from John Collins tried to dispute our data and implied that although he had apparently been "spoken to" by Terry Harper, he felt no obligation to apologize to the Class. Although Mr. Collins appears to bear no remorse, the support of the others mentioned here was plentiful and bears much more relevance to our national reputation. |
