That seems to be quite a general all round consensus regarding the opinions of many sailors ive meet from "Faster" catamaran classes: mosquito's are old and slow, but there yardstick is to high, bit of a contradiction there.
Being a university student, my sailing budget is very limited, so i was extremely happy to stumble across a mosquito that i could afford, i couldnt wait to get the "beast" out on the water having upgraded from a smaller 14ft windrush, only to be scoffed at by a-class and taipan sailors at my first race at a different club (which i wont name, note though most members from this club are very friendly) when i unveiled my "slower older boat". Some ask questions like why'd you pick a slow boat like a mosquito, others seem to just look down their nose from their "superior boats". Even got some very nasty glares from some sailors when i said "a good sailor on a slow boat will beat a bad sailor on a fast boat any day", i was by no means referring to them, but to sailing in general, as ive personally witnessed a sailor on a nacra 14sq beat two nacra 5.8s with spinnakers by 20 minutes in a race that took the 5.8s around an hour! I couldnt believe it, sailing my windrush 14 at the time, i was a good 20 minutes behind the 5.8s, 40 minutes behind the 14sq on a similarly sized boat.
So i guess it goes to show, its not all about boat speed on paper, but about how much of that speed your able to get out of you boat on the day, and how you use it. No good being in a really fast boat if your only getting 50% out of it, and then sailing it the longest path around the course. Whilst im sure they were all very good sailors, i think they should give respect where its earned. If a sailor can beat them around the course in an older slower boat, they should put their pride aside and respect and congratulate the sailor who was clearly better on the day.
Fortunately, i find that the vast majority of the sailing community is extremely friendly and supportive, and whilst we all love racing, its all about enjoying sailing, id rather be in a bath tub holding up a bed sheet then sitting on the beach looking at all the other boats wishing i was out there. Its just sad though when theres the few who wish to pull others down to satisfy them selves. And whilst not too long in the future when i graduate from uni and will be able to take my pick of the boats (im studying Aeronautical and Space Aviation Electronics Engineering by the way, pretty good money, not to mention my long time girlfriend/future wife is studying dentistry! not trying to brag btw just making a point) from the short time that ive been apart of the mosquito sailing community i have to say that despite the fact that its an "older slower boat", it has the strongest and friendliest community ive come across, and is a class i hope to be apart of for a long time. Further more, the mosquito class must clearly be full of very good sailors if they can beat the "faster" boats, i only wish they were as numerous up here in qld as down south, time to do up some flyers maybe
