Please, do not let this brief post hijack the discussion
but it seems that many cat-sailors want to measure the fantastic speed they are doing.
We have found that placing the GPS receiver on the boom one metre from the mast seems to produce correct numbers. We have not seen any strange figures on our Magellan Meridan or Garmin Foretex when placing them (antenna up) on the boom.

Back to the speed discussion: the Weymouth speed week has seen many cats thunder down the 500 meter course. Tornado sailors have had speed contests after regattas. However, rarely have speeds in excess of 20 knots been recorded.
Why? What are the limiting factors to maintaining speeds > 20 knots in beach cats?

Stein

Stein