Hi John,

The concept of the Taipan was mainly born out of the work that they had been doing on the A-Class in the early to mid 80's, however, at that time Greg and Jim were also sailing Mosquitoes, and Tornadoes. So I suppose they combined all this knowledge into the Taipan. It was not merely a cut down MkIII A-Class, however, I believe it was close to that. In those days boats were being built in ply, so it was very easy to make modifications on the run.

Yes, you are right in saying that it was originally proposed to the Mosquito Class as a Mosquito Mk III, however, the Mosquito Association were not willing to come to the party. Jim ended up finding the new name... TAIPAN. And I suppose the snake theme has stuck.

Oooooo Those 1982 nationals.... Hot with plenty of MUD. There was water in the basin then... A lot more than we can say now a days!!