Hi,

Can someone help me. I am handicapping a race coming up soon and have to rate a Dragonfly 920 trimaran and some corsair trimarans.

THE USSA Multihull Tables show F-27's, F-28's, F-31's, etc all faster than Hobie 18's, etc, even in the lightest conditions.

Is this true? I could use results where tri's and cats raced together on the same course, same wind, etc. A race where monohulls were there too would really help....

Steve Bellavia
Hobie FX-1, Sail #211

The big trimarans are faster in light air. However, when the catamarans can start flying a hull they generally will pass the big F tri's. That's been my experience anyway.

FOr the most part the numbers are about as accurate as you will find anywhere.
Rick

Hi Steve, That will be the best source for ratings but my experience is that a Hobie 18 is noticeably faster than an F-27 in light air. That comes from experience so the only thing you can do is get some and then adjust the handicaps based on your actual results. If you will only rate one race then you should just stick to the published ratings. If this is for a club's entire racing season then you have lots of ratings possibilities. Just hope for medium or stronger wind because the light wind ratings really favor the beach cats, especially against the heavier tris. The F-28R, for example, is lighter than the F-27 and does much better in light air, but I would still prefer a beach cat in round the buoys racing to win on corrected time. Once the breeze comes up a little then the ratings are more fair and if it is really breezy then the tris start to have an advantage.

Just keep it light (hearted) and emphasize the novelty and fun factor of mixing the classes. Emphasize the experience rather than the results! Good luck,

Mike