Those of you who have followed the racing scene for a while certainly know the names Steve and Fred Howe. They are extremely good guys who have had a number of very successful programs; TP 52, Farr 40, Melges 32, Santa Cruz 52. Steve hasn’t raced the Melges 32 Warpath since 2012, but decided to bring the boat out for the Cortez Racing Association’s famed Beer Can Series in San Diego. He got a 2017 PHRF SoCal certificate, entered the series, and proceeded to dominate the first race of the series Wednesday night, beating the next boat in his class, also a Melges 32, by 7 minutes on a 5.5 mile course in good breeze.
An easy win, right? Wrong. The results scored him as DNE – Did Not Enter. It turns out that in order to help maintain the fiefdom known as PHRF SD, one must have a PHRF SD certificate – not a PHRF SoCal certificate – to enter the series. Never mind that the boat rates exactly the same with either certificate. Warpath has a 2017 PHRF SoCal certificate.
The Warpath guys didn’t know of this rule, and immediately tried to rectify the situation by joining the local fiefdom. CRA came back with a definitive NO.
That strikes us as nothing short of ridiculous. Rules are rules, we get it. But there is nothing nefarious about what Warpath did. No intent to circumvent anything. It was an oversight and the punishment of not being scored does not in any way fit the crime. CRA could have easily rectified this, but they chose to be hard ass and exclude a top notch competitor over what amounts to a technicality.
In a sport dying for more competitors, CRA should be embarrassed by this iron fisted decision. Have a comment? Then jump in the thread.
