JenniferL,
You are right about the Taipan being a great boat. I sail mine cat rigged only and love it. I'm male by the way.
If you are finding that the boat is overpowered for you when the wind gets up sailing solo you may wish to use a different sail. The specialist cat sail for a Taipan is built differently to the sloop sail and is built to suit the weight of the sailor as well. The sail is fuller lower down than the sloop sail to reduce the heeling moment wheras the sloop sail needs to be flatter lower down due to the jib. Of course, the lighter the sailor the flatter overall will be the sail. This is my understanding anyway.
If you are finding that you are overpower sloop rigged as well then perhaps a flatter sail would suit you better. You should probably talk to a sailmaker about this. I can recommend two in Australia who specialize in Taipan sails. One is of course the co-designer of the Taipan Greg Goodall :
www.ahpc.com.auand the other is the current World A-class champion and Australian Taipan champion Glen Ashby :
www.ashbysails.comI hope this is of some help to you.
Regards,
Rob Wilson
Taipan 4.9 AUS175
