V interesting Mark, and having raced against you at Mylor last year, I  can see that there's little in Foxwhelps spec, nor your helming ability to have stopped you doing better at Dart! 😉. Pleasure to have met, and raced you!

RORC have been persuaded to correct my keel type...but guess what?
My rating is unchanged... who'd have thought it? 😱.
They also are very reluctant to show their workings...which to me, as a marine technologist/CMarEng, speaks volumes...

RORC, IRC and now YTC etc is some sort of proprietary intellectual property it seems, out of which a few people seem to make a good/satisfying living?

Rather frustrating for us all....?

Sea Simon,

Yes, “Foxwhelp” BC 23 suffered miserably on her RYA rating at the Royal Dartmouth regatta largely because we suffered going upwind. We did our best to sail without ballast through chop in an effort to satisfy our rating. We had three crew on the rail, but still bobbed about a bit.  (Cruising I would certainly have had ballast in to windward to cut through the chop). Off wind, she went well with the asym up, but the legs were very short.
We did better in the Bay Race with longer legs and lighter air.

In contrast, “Pippin” always does very well when in the company of the OGA.  Of course the OGA rating bears no resemblance to the RYA, particularly as it has no displacement measurement.  And with our ability to have ballast or not, we have an advantage adjusting to the conditions. 
When one old gaffer was overheard to be grumbling about Pippin’s water ballast advantage, I suggested they introduce displacement to their calculation.  A nearby old gaffer responded with ;”Do you really think we want to know what our boats weigh?!”

Last year “Pippin” took first and second in the Gaffers class with equal points to the winner (tie break rules say the winner of a tie is the winner of the later race).  If Pippin does not sell before the regatta this year, I intend to reverse that result, although the very lovely “Cynthia” owned by Peter Lucas is always a popular winner.

Hi, I had not run across the Brixham trawler before. It's a salty looking yacht.

I contemplated shipping my BC23 from Australia to the UK and was staggered that the transport cost was approximately GBP 18,000. Roll On Roll Off was available. The BC23 was too large for a container.

Simon, I might be interested in your 6kg Rocna for my new BC21 which I hope to have in early June, though I would need to check with Matt if it would fit in the foredeck locker he has sensibly incorporated into the new boat. The other complication is we are off to the States on Monday for a fortnight. I am based on the Fal so fairly local to you. Might be best if you contacted me on 07429 453 448. Thanks, Nigel