Why are GP 14's so fast?

That's a very good way of putting the effect of sailing a boat with a high floor. I've always likened it to standing on the lid of a tea chest (removing the lid and standing down on the base being the analogy for a boat without a double floor, like a 505), but yeah, beach ball, I like it...

The point I was trying to make was not how slow/fast relative to its handicap the boat is in light airs, but how much difference the way it's sailed makes. It's taken us several years to make the FD go in light airs, it's really very much easier in a good F3. If you get beat by a particular boat in light airs, might it not be that they are sailing better than you? The current obsession with the "adrenaline junkie" end of the wind range means that lots of sailors don't bother with the light stuff at all. No wonder they get their butts kicked when they do! I still think any trapeze assymetric "should" have the legs of the FD on a windward/leeward in the light - due to the FD being slightly underpowered downwind, as well as the weight and wetted area issues. Light airs are just as much of a challenge as 30 knots, it's just a different kind of challenge. The people who are really good at it (not me, barely adequate would best describe me) can make almost any boat a light air bandit.

Neil