You have to admire our sloop sailors. They have managed to get 2.5 points faster without any changes to the boat. It can only be due to skill and talent. Unlike the cat sailors with spinnakers - we need to lift our game apparently.

The Taipan yardstick puts a big question mark on the assumption most people make that square-top sails are faster. The cat-rig is now rated slower than it was before the square-top, and the sloop is only half a point faster.

On the serious side this is a real barrier to club racers sailing sloop rigged. Why would anyone bother? Take the jib off and get a 2 point yardstick advantage!
This means less opportunity for kids to come into the class via crewing and the already struggling (in numbers) sloop fleet could well disappear completely.


Tim Shepperd
Mosquito 1775
Karma Cat