Hey there,

It's winter and not much going on, especially for those in the far south. We are still racing winter series up here though.

Oh the joy of the dramas yardsticks can cause amongst sailing clubs, especially mixed fleets.

The mossie yardstick especially with spinnaker has come into question at my club. Specifically should a mossie run under the F16 yardstick? as the 80 seems generous to some.

Of course the answer IMHO is no way, mainly due to sail m2 plus other factors as well.

I am just bemused that my old timber boat can cause such waves in the pond, must be getting a bit close and putting some heat on.

I mentioned to one of my colleagues that if my boat was causing a few ruffles watch out if someone comes along with a newer kevlar boat as that will really upset the apple cart.

BTW - one of our club is also looking at the option of building a mossie as well.

I am just looking forward to the next day of sailing and thrill of giving all you have. I love being out on trap and powering to windward or rounding that top mark and turning off the wind, the acceleration is such a buzz and then popping the kite just takes it to a whole new level.

Racing this Sunday, will let you know how I fare.

Cheers,

Drew,

If you had a brand new kevlar Mozzie then the competition would really be making noises with or without spinnaker.

Mind you, if they also had brand new yachts at minimum weight they would also probably be under a fair amount of scrutiny as well. And if your club had a F16 Blade or Viper racing then they would be able to see the difference.

Keep on kicking their butts and keep us all updated on your race results.

Regards,


Peter

It might have been one of your club officials that contacted me about the handicap.
In Victoria we have top Mosquitoes racing with and without spinnakers and really 80 is not far off the mark. It all depends on the conditions who comes out on top.

I think if you really want to silence your fellow club members, try racing without the spinnaker on 84 and see how you go. If you are beating the "faster" boats around the course with the spinnaker you should destroy them on handicap without it.

Another thing to remember when talking about the Mosquito handicap is that the A-class, Hobie16 and Mosquito are the only cat classes that put in enough results to Yachting Victoria to qualify for a "reliable" handicap. If other classes have a problem with their handicap then their class associations need to send in some results and talk to YV and not just whine about it in the club bar.

Over the years I've been racing with the spinnaker I've been beaten by Taipans, A-classes, Hobie16s, F18s, F16s, Nacra 14, Nacra 5.8 and Tornados amongst others. I've also beaten plenty of them so I don't see any problem with the handicap.

Spot on Tim & Peter.

The submission of results is critical and yes if they have issues the particular group needs to make an effort.

I see our handicap as on the mark, if I sail well I am coming out on top and if I sail poorly I am behind - works for me.

Might try the without spinnaker approach - could be very interesting - wonder if my kite makes up for boat age or not.

Cheers,

when was the last time we seen any real change in the YV handicaps? the catamaran figures have barely changed in the past 4 years at least.. have the development class's developed? of course they have.

There is only one guy running the show and he does no seem too interested in results at all. many clubs have tried to submit their results and fallen on deaf ears.

Just wish we had something like the portsmouth system over here, where all the clubs can easily send in their results and help make the system fair.

Strange, because I've found John Donaldson to be very interested in results indeed. Several times over the last few years I've asked club officials after a regatta if they would please send their results in to YV, and on not one occasion did it happen. In those cases I have tracked down results and sent them in to him myself.

Have we seen changes in the handicaps? Yes, every year! However most clubs don't update the handicaps they use. Every regatta you go to it is worth checking what version the club is using.

I remember a regatta a couple of seasons ago, where they had a printed copy of the latest handicaps sitting on the table at registration, which they claimed they would be using. However when the results came out we were using some previous version - because no-one had bothered to update the handicaps in their copy of TopYacht.

Anyway John tells me this is the last year he will be doing the handicaps, so that means one of two things. Either YV will get someone (or a committee) onto the job and we might see some changes, or YV will drop the ball completely and the cats may as well switch to using SCHRS ratings (maybe we should anyway).

As far as development classes go, I agree. It's a joke that the A-classes handicap has not changed at all.

Do you mean the UK Portsmouth system or the USA one? How does it work?

http://www.ussailing.org/portsmouth/



Well for me the ys for the foiling moth is a lot further from the truth than the a-class. 84? and in reality not too far off the pace of an a-class.

should have been addressed by now.