Favourite Photos

Not so true.

Where mono's plane (or not - Most boats will plane eventually ) and have Kites or not, cats have the "unstick" point (for want for a better word) at which point the boat just steps up a gear, usually on-or-about the point when the windward hull can be flown efficiently (much less drag with one hull in the water).  But the boats reach this point at different windspeeds (and different points of sail - Kite boat and powerfull sloop/cat boat) will "wildthing" downwind too.

Sprint 15's (Dart 15 as was), Prindle 15's and the like are low-power so fly their hulls later, A class fly their hulls much ealier (around 5 kts).  So there are some "good winds" for Sprint 15's - Lots;and good winds for A class (less windy).  So there is some wind strengths were the S15 will benefit at the A's expense.

I would agree that the hull shape of a mono has much more effect on the boat speeds - e.g. 49'ers don't do well in the V light stuff as they have a lot of "boat in the water" than say a Laser or Ent.

To answer the other point about comparing the handicaps, take the SCHRS handicap and multiply by 6.841 to get the approx PY :

Hurricane 5.9 is SCHRS 101 and PY 691

101 * 6.841 = 690.941 = 691

And then apply any PY "weighting based on returns!!!!!!!"

Shadow SCHRS is 107, PY 732, BUT Inter 17 SCHRS is 107, PY 735 (this maybe because I keep washing the sails in "open" opens at Grafham  )

Dropping the mainsheet is the normal culprit. Poor Simon, he had a beast of a Nationals judging by the results and this photo.

More photos @ http://fotoboat.thirdlight.com and www.photolounge.co.uk

wot is that guy on DEN8 doin? That's no time to 'rearrange' your tackle!

I just put a couple of good photos on the '49er or 800' thread.

Liverpool  - the legend lives on

Man U eat yer hearts out!

these things could be fun in the dinghy park after a days sailing.