I'm in two minds with this issue. We had a lot of tuning problems on the Super Taipan at Forster and consequently our results were mixed, however it does appear that it's pretty easy to have a good result on a Mossie F16. Generally in mixed fleet racing you will see a bit more diversity in the winners accross differing conditions ie one wind strength will work to some boats performance envelope better than others.
I think I only had one race all weekend that I was happy with as far as the boat performance and our tactical decissions, that was the last race on the Sunday. We won over the line by miles but if I recall correctly it was close on hcp to the Mossie. The conditions were perfect for the super taipan in that race, we were fully powered up for the upwind legs and were the only boat to be fully powered downwind, the net result being that we beat the Tornado by a good margin and the rest of the fleet were way back.
I am in no way saying that the mossie sailors are not good but it appears that the hcp is leaning towards generous.
Wow Macca I love a good argument but you make it toooo easy.
That last race on the Sunday was no where near close, with the Mossies on yardstick. F16 Altered placed second on yardstick the Mossies placed around 5th. You where not the only one fully powered up so was Altered, as a result you and I took out 1st. and 2nd. as you say the conditions suited our boats but this was the only race in those conditions all weekend. The only other race close to those conditions was Mon. and I don't know about you but I went the wrong way and was beaten by Mossies because they went the right way.
But I have not blamed the Mossie Yardstick for being beaten by them, as like yourself my boat does not yet have a Yardstick, so I have no basis on which to complain as until I have a Yardstick I am only racing because of the goodwill of the other boats with Yardsticks. I know I have had queries from some A cat sailors as to how Altered can have ONLY the same H/cap as them, as I am sure some Tornado's have asked how your H/cap could be ONLY the same as thiers.
Also having raced against these guys in Mossies I know my boat is not as well sorted as thiers yet and from what you say niether is yours. I have seen these guys finish a lap ahead of other Mossies with spinnakers. There are about 10 racing with spin in Vic. not just the 2 you saw, which are also the best.
The only reason the Mossie. with spin. even has a Yardstick is because they wanted to do the right thing, so pro-actively sent every result they could get thier hands on to the VYC for over 2 years now. How many results have you sent? Believe me you can't rely on clubs to do it you have to make it happen if you want a Yardstick.
I certainly enjoyed the standard of sailing at Forster, I think you will find the Taipan4.9 sloops beat you on Yardstick nearly every race also, as they did me. The Taipan4.9's and Mossies gives us a level to work towards don't they?
Regards Gary.
