Mosquito vs Hobie 16's downwind

I'm not yet a Mozzie sailor but I've noticed the cat rigged Mozzies aren't competitive against Hobie 16's in windward/return courses. Can any cat rigged sailors comment if they're able to beat Hobies downwind.

Where are you seeing this?

Westernport YC

Well a Hobie 16 does have the sail area of nacra 5.8 and not much drag. sailing DDW we found them to be almost the same speed as the 5.8 Obviously tacking downwind we would smash them. are you sailing DDW or tacking at angles?

Hi Shwell,

One easy way for the cat rig Mossie to beat the Hobie, put a spinnaker on the Mossie .

But seriously it really depends on a lot of factors, but if both sailors are of equal ability, the wind strength will make the most difference, if it's windy Hobie will be faster, if under 12 knots if the Mossie sails very square it will be faster. But takes a lot of discipline to sail the Mossie square enough, the sort of thing you generaly only see at Titles. If you get the chance talk to Stone brothers (from Somers)about it, they probably have more experience than most.

I can prove that. ill sail over from somers in the next few weeks and we will give it a try! or sail over at somers for a race!

you cant beat H16 down wind, sailed a mossie for many years in cape town, don't mess around fit a spinnaker and you will not find a H16 anywhere, its also fun to pass them down wind as they are usually in to the top mark just a little ahead, then boom spinnaker, deeper faster more fun, , now I have sailed F16, spitfires, cirus, FX1 now on a MK2 infusion, no time to sail slow no spinnaker no way, if I loose a spinnaker its time to call it quits and have a beer in the bar!

mossie is like a jewel to sail, very fine and balanced, h16 is a brute both are fast, I find the boom on the mossie to low, and difficult if you have two adult crews, to sail, this I mentioned 20 years ago, at Vogel Vlei, if they sorted the mossie out that it could carry two adults weight competitively they would have sold hundreds, but still love to go back to cape town and sail them, even moving from my latest F18, still a terrific boat, would it be fantastic, with, wider beams, square head sail, longer mast, square off the front bows to make it more powerful down wind.

It a depends on the wind, in melbourne we beat them most of the time down wind, under 15 knots we beat them, in over 15 its a struggle, and we are competing against the top 10 hobie 16 in australia, no joke. this is with out a kite, with kite we are put in another division cos we are too fast against them, so we are pit with tiapans and f18

hobie 16's are and always will be faster downwind, they just have more sail area, pretty simple, i disagree with matt. its more a matter of sailing/boat handling skills, tuning and weight, if the 16 is not winning downwind they probably aren't all that good. With that being said, having sailed both classes i think its easier to be more competitive sailing a mosquito than it is in a 16.
My results at nationals show this, in 16's i was mid/back of the fleet, and in my first mossie nats i came 3rd, so if u are looking to get into either class and want to be competitive u will have more chance of doing that in a mosquito

1/3rd of a lap is down-wind....

we sail away from them on the other 2/3rds of the course every time