Originally Posted by brucat
Originally Posted by Jake
What we HAVE seen, though, in AC33, AC34 we saw some wrong application of monohull tactics in multihull sailing and we saw some multihull handling mistakes than many of us made when we first started sailing multihulls (but, notably, I don't recall seeing Groupama making any of these types of errors). We've still seen a little bit of this in AC35 but not nearly as much - they are mostly past the inexperience curve.


THIS is my biggest concern when taking monohull sailors and putting them into major multihull regattas (AC, Olympics, etc.). There are VERY, VERY few people who can successfully make this transition.

I won't speak for Jake, but when I hear a comparison of monos to cats, I think the folks with the best (only?) chance are apparent-wind sailors (49ers, Foiling Moths, etc.). As Garda mentioned, it's not so much about boat handling, but IMHO is all about race strategy and tactics.

EDIT: I'm certainly NOT saying that smart monohull sailors can't learn this, it just takes a long time. How long depends on a lot of factors, but I'd measure it in cycles rather than months or even years.

Mike


Santiago Lange went from 9th in the 1996 Olympics in a Laser to 10th in the 2000 Games in a Tornado and then to medals. Fernando Leon was 4th in 470s at the 1992 Olympics, 6th in the Olympic keelboat in 1996, and won Gold in Olympic cat in 2000. So people from "old school mono" classes can get into apparent wind classes and do as well or do better than they used to within a cycle.

As noted, if people using "wrong tactics" could get 6th and 7th in the Moth and A Class worlds (which Spithill and Slingsby have done) then the Moth and A Class guys must be pretty bad. Personally I reckon the top A Class guys and Moth guys are fantastic, and therefore the people who can get up with them must not be using "wrong tactics".

Spithill was as high as 4th in the 2008 Australian A Class titles and 6th in the worlds in 2009, before AC33 was sailed. That's hardly the effort of someone who was going to go on and make multihull rookie mistakes.

Last edited by garda; 06/22/17 05:34 AM.