Sure we are comparing apples to oranges, but it is too much fun to let the opportunity pass.
Compare apples to apples. A 12' board with 7.4m2 of sail would be VERY competitive with a 12' cat with 7.4m2 of sail in just about all conditions, and it would kill it for top-line speed.
How about a 107 kg surfboard with 18.7 sq. mtr sail area ? I bet the cat would knock you so hard that you have to sleep standing up at night.
Two can play this game. We should cats be forced to compare to YOUR specs and not the other way around ?
Last time I sailed my Mistral IMCO (just 7.4m2 of sail) against cats I was similar speed around a windward/leeward course to a Nacra 14 square (which is a few points slower than a Hobie 16)
News flash. catamaran design has advanced a little since the introduction of the Nacra 14 sq. and Hobie 16.
Cat sailors are not asking the surfers to race us on some 80's surf board ? Apples to apples remember. You can to use the lastest and fastest, we get to use the latest and fastest.
Good Formula guys used to sometimes pace our club fleet. Their square-running speed seemed similar to the world A Class champion, upwind they were a little bit lower than the Formula 16s (Taipan 4.9s) with slightly slower VMG.
Going on this statement alone. Who is FASTER ?
Thanks to the German boat show we have another direct comparison between an olympic Tornado, surfboard and kite surfer. As predicted the cat won, again ! The surfer started immediately to bitch about the weather not stable enough or the water not being flat enough. No guys, the right response would have been :"Congratulation cat sailors, you guys won this match. Be sure to bring that Tornado back next year as you will get a rematch"
I'm loving this, truly
Wouter
