I don't know, but it sounded to me like the story was just written by a sailor in the race, not by a newspaper reporter. Most of the stories in my magazine are written by sailors who participated in an event. What is the difference between a beach-cat sailor referring to a big mononull as a "lead sled" and a big-boat sailor referring to a beach-cat as a "gnat"?

And the reason why big monohulls feel like the beach cats are "bugging" them is probably because when they are in the same race and both boats are racing and they are crossing paths, it is a little unnerving for the big boats if they are going to have to give way to a little tiny boat. It's a whole lot more work to tack a big boat with 20 people on board than it is for a catamaran with one or two people. And the greatly disparate speeds make it even more difficult for a big boat to know what to do and to react in time.

And it is also unnerving to the catamarans, because they are never really sure whether the big boat is going to give way, if challenged.

Personally, I go by the big-boat rule -- in most cases it is better to think of them as obstacles (big "things") and just dodge around them and tell them to hold their course. By the same token, you don't usually have to worry about a big monohull luffing you up if you are passing to windward -- they want you past and gone as soon as possible.

Some of the comments in this thread made it sound as though the beach cats were actually racing against the big boats. If so, that should not be allowed to happen. Beach cats should be in their own category, no matter how few of them. Otherwise, they will definitely not be welcome in the future.