Gary and myself have had the same problem with our F16 mozzies. When we beat a Hobie 20 to the windward mark they get all upset about the handicap - but they really need to look at the vast differences between the boats and wonder why they are going so slow.

Perceptions of generous handicaps are often only that. At the Kurnell Cat Club regatta in February I won my division against Taipan sloops and Nacra 5.8s and received the usual grumbles about handicaps. Afterwards I combined the results of the other divisions (who sailed the same course) which added Tornados, F18s and Nacra14sqs. Surprise surprise I ended up 8th overall! My best results were two 5th places out of the 30 boats. Suddenly the handicap doesn't look so bad.

It pays to look very closely at results before making decisions about handicaps, and like Jennifer said, the differences in abilities of the crews can really distort the picture. I wouldn't assume right away that the F16HP handicap has to change.

On the subject of F18 relative speeds, we have found that they are definitely faster than the Mozzies in strong winds and rough conditions, but more vulnerable when it's light. Once again it makes a big difference who is sailing the F18. A badly sailed F18 is very slow (even though it feels very fast for it's crew).

I think there is a problem here for the bigger cats when they race on handicap against slower cats. Even if they are performing badly the crew will always have the impression that they are travelling very fast, and unless they are well tuned in to how the boat SHOULD be performing, they can lose badly on handicap. It makes me chuckle when an A-class which is a leg and a half behind the leading A-class gets upset because a Mozzie goes past him (what does he expect?)!

Tim