Hi all,
I hope you don't mind me chiming in. I sail a Cobra but I have just bought a very old Mosquito (194) to use for parts for the Cobra and the Arafura Cadet I am buying and refurbishing for my kids. I may one day attempt a ‘reno’ of 194 myself. It seems to have pretty good hulls.
I really like this forum and read it often. I have learned heaps from the generous sailors who share information here.
I am definitely committed to encouraging people (esp kids) to sail catamarans. I don't care what type of boat they sail ... I am just interested in and understand cats more than monohulls. But any cat is fine with me.
I am a big fan of the idea of multiple classes sailing together.
The Viper and Taipan associations are setting up (have set up?) the Collaborative Catamaran Association (page 4 here:
http://taipan.asn.au/newsletters/Snake%20Tales%20Edition%201.pdf). Why not join that? The boat numbers would be much higher if we all got together and the organisation of events would be easier if we pooled our resources.
I am encouraging the Cobra association to join the Collaborative Catamaran Association too.
Each class would have the opportunity to identify their ‘market segment’ and promote the class accordingly. Vipers suit some, Mosquitos suit others, Dolphins suit others – potential sailors can make their choices between the classes. Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, each class can try to ‘be the best’ at something that sets them apart. The mosquito is a really light boat (I was surprised about how light Mosquito 194 feels compared to Cobra 570) that seems to be pretty easy for the DIY sailor to build and maintain. The Taipan is a different beast and the Viper/F16 different again.
I think people might initially be attracted to these ‘collaborative association’ events because of the boats with the higher profiles, and then see some really ‘nippy’ mozzies tearing it up around the courses and be surprised at the low entry costs to get into sailing on a Mosquito/Cobra etc. Perhaps someone who enjoys crewing on a Viper but wants their own boat will be attracted to a Mosquito after seeing one at such an event? They still might always aspire to sailing newer, faster boat, but they may just end up in a Mosquito (or Cobra, etc) for life!
Perhaps some of the older designs can be promoted as being so retro they are cool again!! We might get a bunch of hipsters out on the water!!
I enjoy sailing at mixed regattas – I muck about at the end of the Cobra fleet getting overtaken quickly by the Mosquitos who started after me, but I have fun.
If we sailed together more often we would probably get some good/reliable data to influence calculation of yardsticks, so competition between classes would be meaningful when there are not enough boats in individual classes to create a division.
The recent 14’ regatta at Mannering Park looks like it was a great success.
http://www.catsailor.net/index.php?/topic/5756-results-for-mannering-pk-regatta/Cats I can think of that could compete in a 16’ cat regatta (but why limit it to 16’?):
Cobra, Dolphin, F16, Hobie 16, Hydra, Mosquito, Taipan, Viper
Anyway, that’s a pretty long post from a newbie like me …
Hopefully I will see some of you out on the water some time soon.
Regards
Matthew
