Spinnaker -IRC Rating

[flaming]

I suspect that when CHS became IRC, the C did stand for 'Cruiser'.

No, it stood for "Channel Handicap System" as it was developed by the British and French.

Back then IRM was supposed to be the serious rating?

IRM was later. But to be honest I think that IRM just proved that nobody wants 2 rules, as the IRM boats were always racing in their own class, and not eligible for the overall prize. So they said "why bother" and went back to IRC to be eligible for the big prize. It also didn't help that the Farr 45s turned out to be great IRM boats, so almost nobody ever actually had a boat built to the rule I think....

Maybe the rule is just past its sell by date. It happens to rating rules once too many boats get optimised.

Possibly... But there's no real sign of anything waiting in the wings to take over.

You say boats optimised for IRC w/l are not being made. Surely that means not enough people are willing to buy them? So is the rest of the world having the same problem, or is it Solent thing?
Can nobody afford a bespoke boat any more?

Pretty much I think. Looking at the killer WW/lW boats, I don't think any yard was ever really going to get rich building them. Numbers were too low. However, yards like JPK seem to have carved out a really nice niche making good all round IRC boats. And Jeanneau are selling those Sunfasts like hot cakes. And it's just indisputable that a JPK1080 or a Sunfast 3600 is a lot more fun to sail, especially downwind, than a Corby 36. Just ask the yes! guys who traded a Corby in for a 1080.

All I'm really suggesting is a way to persuade those boats who are mainly offshore boats to come Regatta sailing. I know that rating is not the only reason that people don't want to, but it's often mentioned, so why not see if it's something that could be fixed?

Isn't the kind of dual number system you suggest pretty similar to the old SBR, which was when w/l became all the rage, along with bowsprits and asy's? Whatever happened to all that? I was away from the Solent (well Cowes anyway) for a year or two and suddenly it was all over.

Not really. I'm still suggesting 1 number for all wind strengths. Where (I think?) SBR and now ORR change numbers for the wind strength. That just allows for arguments about which number should be used etc.
The main issue with SBR, if I recall, was that there just weren't enough boats. If I recall the SB3 came along and everyone went off to play OD. Which is better where it exists... But even OD doesn't last that long. It's well within my sailing memory that the SB3s had 100 boats at Cowes and their nationals. And now they scratch together a few. The new thing is the J70, but larger than that there just isn't really any OD around at the moment.