Two Taipan entered this race and Lindsay/Gray sailed a Hobie Tiger as preparation for the Alter Cup event.

Despite Lindsay/Gray excellent result, I think attention should first be given to Mike Crawford sailing a Taipan 4.9 cat rigged boat (No jib, no spi, 1 -up). On elapsed time he has beaten everybody in high High Portsmouth class that included a range of 18 to 20 foot SLOOP rigged boats that were singlehanded. To name them : Prindle 19 sloop (singlehanded), Prindle 19 sloop with non class mainsail (singlehanded), Supercat 17 sloop (singlehanded), G-cat 6.1 sloop (singlehanded), Nacra 5.2 sloop (singlehanded).

In addition to these Mike also stayed ahead of a Nacra US I-20 that was singlehanded, a Taipan F16 with spinnaker and a modern wave-piercer A-cat; all in 7 to 10 knots of wind. He came within minutes (elapsed time) of the rear F18's.

This is a serious achievement on a boat WITHOUT a jib or spinnaker in medium winds. We all know how jib and spi's help a boat go downwind, not too mention sailing a 19 to 20 sloop rigged boat as a singlehander in these conditions.

On handicap he came out as 9th in a 25 boat fleet. Some F18's and I-20's still beat him on handicap ratings. The sloop rigged supercat 17 also beats him on handicap but we all know how ludicrously peachy the Supercat handicaps are. Even with the 5.25 sq. mtr. jib on the boat (making a total sail area of 22.25 sq. mtr. to the 14.58 sq.mtr. of the Taipan) and the singlehanded correction the SC17 still has a rating that is 2% slower than the Taipan. But never mind he has beaten the SC17 be being first over the line.

So my hat off to Mike. Definately !


Then of course we have another excellent result by the Girls-only team of Linday/Gray. I think we may well expect to see something at the upcoming Alter Cup event. On elapsed they have beaten ALL boats in their combined fleet except 2 US I-20's and 1 Tornado. After three hours of sailing they were within 10 minutes of 1 I-20 and the Tornado and only 11 min behind the faster US I-20. On handicapped time results they end up being 2nd. Needing only 1 min and 22 second in elapsed time difference to come out a 1st. That is bloody close after 3 hours of sailing in my book. Actually the difference between the US I-20 and F18's handicaps under USPN is only 5.5 %. Texel and NMBR give the EU I-20 already 6.5 % difference to the F18's and the US I-20 some 9 %. So Linday/Gray is so close that any rise of the rating difference to about 6 % would have made them winners. This is all semantics I know but it surely shows how close these two crews are to one-another. This leads unmistakenbly to the conclusion that L and G are currently HOT and if they can keep this peak all the way to the last race of the Alter Cup then they can do some serious scoring there.


Then we have Seth Stern with (for me a new crew name) Drew Braunstein doing well in his class (low PN); He was right up there with there with the Prindle 19's, Nacra 6.0's and A-cat beating most of them on elapsed time and coming in 3rd on corrected time after the earlier named SC17 and Mike Crawfords Taipan uni. Seth and drew end up at 12 th overall being flanked on either side by the rear F18's. For most of us this has become a normal thing, so normal that we simply don't recognize how special this still is. Hunting down, biting at the heels and beating much larger designs while sailing only a 16 foot boat with much less sailarea. It has been a good event to all who are linked to the Taipans and F16's

It appears that some kind of windshift or change in wind strength appeared after 3 hours of sailing because very suddenly the corrected times make large jump. This is very clear from the two trailing F18's in the F18 fleet. However the race report doesn't mention anything like that :

http://www.tampabaycatsailors.com/Hangover_05_summary.htm

Anyways here are the results as I have composed them (Note I-20's and F18 started together, Low PN started later, All three classes sailed the same course)

Wouter


ELAPSED TIMES





HANDICAPPED TIMES

Post containing second picture

Wouter