Hi Darryn,

long time no hear, I guess the big question with these new YV Cat yardsticks is what information are they based on?

It seems that Kurnell Cat club has constructed them, but what are they based on, they don't have Mossies sailing at that club and if it is a measured handicap, what Mossie did they measure? Their size for the spinnaker on the spinnaker Mozzie is wrong for a start, you can't fit a F16 spinnaker on a Mozzie the mast is 1m shorter and the pole is at least .5m shorter. Wouldn't the starting point be to contact the Mossie association to find out what size the spinnaker is, based on the class rules!

As far as giving the sloops a faster yardstick, there are no results ever that place a sloop with spinnaker ahead of a cat rig, there have been 7 Vic state Titles for Spinnaker Mossies and cat rigs have won every one. Without spinnaker you can look at the times for the first Cat and Sloop Mossie across the line at Nationals for the last few years and I think it is pretty even, so why would a sloop be rated faster?

I am not saying that the Mossie yardstick is correct as it is, but I question the premise on which it has been changed.

Just recently at the YV Vic Cat Champs, Mossies (one of which was Bob) where conclusively beaten by Paper Tigers on the old YV yardsticks, but Paper Tigers have not been changed, so how does that work!

I think the Mosquito Association needs to contact YV and ask them, what is the basis on which the handicaps have been changed.

The Mossie Yardstick may or may not be correct, but rating a sloop faster will only reduce their numbers further, as most Mossies race in mixed fleets and rely on yardstick for results.