U20 PHRF against Martin 242 and Holder 20?

[Bob Brunius]

How do you think the U20 will do in a mixed PHRF fleet of  Solings, Martin 242, Santa Cruz 27, and Holder 20? PHRF-NW here rates the U20 at 162. The Martin and SC27 are 159 and the Soling is 168. By those numbers the U20 fits in with the crowd.

The venue here is zero to 10 kts of wind in the summer. Typically 4 -> 8 kts.

I have a Soling but don't want a spinnaker pole anymore and I'm looking for a 20 ft PHRF boat.

Local guy (great sailor) had a J80 and raced with great success in the region but on our light air venue the Solings crushed him. Now He has a Martin 242 which with the overlapping jib is king of the hill -- in the light air he kills the Solings. This summer there will be 4 Martins out on Friday nights. Also this summer a Holder 20 will arrive on West Sound.

I got this bit from a guy I know in San Diego:

I like the U20 but it has some weaknesses and upwind and downwind in light air is a problem, something you probably see a fair amount of on Westsound. When I raced my Holder 20 in the ’06 SD NOOD the Holders started 5 minutes behind the U20’s and I sailed through the U20 fleet pretty much every race and it wasn’t really that light. Pease Glaser and her husband Jay (Glaser Sails and both Olympians) were the only U20 that beat us scratch in a race and never in elapsed. Now, this is the standard Holder 20 with crappy original OD mini-me sym spin.

[Gregg Henning]

I can tell you that U20's love light air.  Under 5 and they are typically untouchable.

[Billy Ellis]

Greg is correct, the u20 shines in light air. Plenty of heal to reduce wetted surface and she really goes.

[Don Corey]

A U20 with a rating of 162 should have no problem dominating in light air.  Weight forward, induce some heel, up and down wind.

[Glenn VanHeel]

What does a holder 20 rate there? West coast, holder 20 is 186 ultimate 20 is 138. I've owned a few holders. They're great affordable boats and we always held our own in the light air. We even experimented with a masthead chute and in the light light conditions it's an absolute weapon!
But at 162 rating for the u20 I can understand. I'd love to have that here.