The Taipan cat rigged main sail Wouter, is 13.7 sqm or 147.5 sq ft OF SAIL! that is without half the area of the mast, the mainsail area of the Alpha F14 without the mast area is an actual 132 sq ft, 15.5 sq ft less than the Taipan, and on a mast approx' a metre shorter. The beam of the AO F14 is also much narrower being only 7' or 2.13m wide and using a 9 sqm spinnaker as we are at the moment and a sailor who tips the scales at 87kgs, all go to make the AO F14 a MUCH MUCH smaller package than the Taipan ON PAPER and IN THE WATER, yet by the results from last Saturdays racing, sailing at a VYC yardstick of 78 (down again in a week from 80, when most 14'cats are in the high 80's or low 90's), at the Adelaide Sailing Club (included below), its performance speaks for itself

Division 1 Catamarans Start Time 15:10:00
Class Y/S Sail Finish Elapsed Corr'd Place
AO F14 78 01 16:17:46 01:07:46 01:26:53 1
F18 70 1463 16:11:50 01:01:50 01:28:20 2
Taipan 74 160 16:15:47 01:05:47 01:28:54 3
4.9 Mk 2
Taipan 74 246 16:18:36 01:08:36 01:32:42 4
4.9 Mk 2
Nacra 72 1492 16:20:19 01:10:19 01:37:40 5
5.8