In August last year on Sydney harbour, the moth beat the all the A-Cats in 3 out of 4 races. The first placed A was Steve Brewin who is a quite handy sailor.
Do you have a link to the event? Not going to nit-pick details but I would like to see it confirmed that the Moth is faster around the course than high-perf cats, when comparing apples to apples.
I don't think the reults are available on line any more but I was there as a spectator that year (as I just sold my Cap).
The Moth guy was one of the very top Moth sailors and as we know, Stevie can sail an A OK.
The conditions were enough for foiling each race with the second day from memory being fresh. It was a typical winter regatta on Sydney Harbour and the wind was very shifty. Stevie was edged out by the moth for both handicap and line houners in this regatta. When I discussed with him, he said he was supprised with the pace of the moth and said he was a little quicker in this regatta (because he won). Boat for boat I believe they are very close, perhaps equal in these conditions. The shifty nature and better tactical decisions may have also lead to the Moth winning the regatta, however I think you will find they are about on par.
The previous years, the Moths did not even come close to the cats in any race however the conditions ranged from non foiling on one day and blowing on the next with holes of no breeze...... Typical Winter Sydney Harbour. The last year I raced, only an 18 beat us for line hounours in one race (where we started late and gave him a 1/2 leg lead on the first upwind. Every other race we took line honours by 3 to 5 mins from an 18 with all other boats not even close.
TaipanFC, when he raced at our club was a very passionate (and very quick) Taipan sailor. In Singapore he has both an A Class and a Moth so will give you a very fair analasis of both boats.
