Day one the 18 did overlay the gate a few times, which is why we near on lapped him....... However overlaying is overlaying even on a cat. We did not bang the corners like the 18 but picked the shifts and pressure on the down winds (who said cats aren't tactical). We did underlay a few times and had a few minor overlays as well.

Race 3 was a shocker on our part but we came back hard with superior boat speed and tactics in the 18s most favoured conditions....... They were just pulling 3 strings with the #1 rig whilst we were struggling to get even 1 on the wire.

Race 4 was my favourite and really emphasised the speed difference. We started under the 18 and sailed straight out from underneath them with better hight and speed. (We were now just pulling 1 to 2 strings). The 18 followed the same lines as us and we continued to steadily pull out ground on him both upwind and down.

Throughout the 2 days, whilst they also made a few errors, when ever we were side by side the F18 showed superior boat speed. Across the wind range the F18 pulled BIG ground on the upwinds. Downwind the F18 still pulled ground however in race 3 when the wind was very light (about 5 to 7 knots) the 18 Skiff had simular speed but a slight edge in VMG.

Race 1 – F18 by 4 min 43 sec in a 25 min 39 sec race
Race 2 – F18 by 7 min 44 sec in a 32 min 41 sec race
Race 3 – 18 Skiff by 52 sec in a 42 min 51 sec race
Race 4 – F18 by 2 min 18 sec in a 25 min 13 sec race

Sounds a little more comprehensive when you convert to minutes.