speed question

How does the speed of these



("18' Skiff")

compare to cats?

That's a good question. I have never been on the water when one is nearby. If I saw one I would have surely taken it on.

I can tell you how I sail against an I-14 though. Just a slightly smaller version of the Aussie 18, kind of. Do not say that to the sailor of either of these as they are prepared to give a speech about the differences.

Anyway...I thought that the I-14 was going to be quite a bit faster downwind as the spinnaker on the boat is at least twice the size of mine. I sail a Tiger. With the spinnaker and a planing boat I thought it would be gone. We rounded the weather mark with one in a race and rounded the leeward mark with the same boat. They go a bit lower downwind but we make up for the angles and in the end it is about the same.

Going to weather we are quite a bit faster.

I talked to an I-14 sailor about it and he though that the Tiger would be alot faster downwind. He was pleased to be able to stay with one downwind.

There was a time that the Aussie 18 was known to be the fastest boat around a triangle course. I think there are spinnaker catamarans that could beat an Aussie 18 around a course these days.

Later,
Dan

I do not think I would try to race an I-14 if I were on a Hobie 16. May beat them upwind but get blown away downwind.

I figured that'd be about right....are there any small small boats that can keep up with a Cat upwind?

Speed / Effort

Biggest difference is ease of obtaining that speed. I like to refer to boats like the I14 as swim platforms. They can spend a lot of time upside down. You have to be a VERY experienced and coodinated sailor(s) to get that performance from a monohull. Cats are MUCH easier to sail at speed.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

never thought of it that way matt thanks!

Australian VYC Yardstick

29er - 95
Hobie 14 - 94.5
12 Skiff - 92
Paper Tiger - 91.5
16 Skiff - 86
I14 - 86.5
NACRA 14sq - 84.5
49er - 84
Hobie 16 - 81.5
Nacra 5.0 - 81
Mozzie (spinnaker) - 80
NARCA 16 sq - 79.5
Hobie 18 - 78.5
Taipan 4.9 Cat - 76.5
Taipan Sloop - 73.5
Hobie 20 - 73
NACRA Inter 17 - 72.5
Nacra 5.8 - 72
A Class - 71
Taipan 5.7 - 70
NACRA 5.8 Spinn - 70
F18 - 70
Classic Tornado - 69
18 Skiff - 68
Taipan 5.7 Spin - 67.5
Spinnaker Tornado - 65 (alloy mast)

_________________


www.2007f18worlds.com

how do yardsticks work? Im very enw to sailing. Thanks!

After doing alittle reading it seems the lower the yardstick the faster the boat?

Lower = Faster

Tornado 65
18 Skiff 68

Tornado must give an 18 Skiff 3 minutes start for every 100 minutes of racing.

_________________


www.2007f18worlds.com

Marc - the 9/06 Sail Magazine has a very interesting article on the World's Fastest Sailboats. It lists 18-Foot Skiffs top out at 30 knots.
Good reading. Of similar interest (on page 26) Greg Ketterman won the multihull class at the San Francisco Bay Speed Sailing Event @ 27 knots in a Trifoiler. Congrats Greg. Why can't I buy one of those?! I hate to belabor the point...just a little jealous.

And the Tornado is said to reach upto 33 knots, quoted on the ITA Web site.

At the end of the day, talk is cheap until the speed is ratified by the WSSRC. Forget GPS top speeds as they can be inaccurate to say the least. Best way to record speed is over a timed course like they do for for WSSRC records.

Myself and other Sydney based Tornadoes including Bundy and Forbes have gone head to head aginst Sydney 18s and the T has come out quicker both upwind (significantly) and downwind.

_________________


www.2007f18worlds.com

We had a Vector, a step below an I14, the boat would plane upwind in a 12mph breeze. Imagine a canoe with 2' racks, high aspect ratio main, self tacking jib, double trapeze, bow sprit and gennaker. I never took ballet, I can ride a skateboard, but...I was very happy to find out that people sit on top of their capsized boats between races.

All the talk about catamarans being prone to pitchpole? or prone to capsize? Hull comes up, get on the wire, hull still coming up, two on the wire, coming up more downhaul, de-power, pinch.

Comparatively speaking?

Hobie, EFFORTLESS with speed.
Vector, 10% exhilaration, 90% sheer terror.

_________________
hobiejohn at earthlink dot net
Fleet 297

We've gone head to head with 18s a couple of times on the Tiger and never lost. I suspect however that with equally skilled teams the 18' is probably marginally faster (it would fall pretty much halfway between the F18 and Tornado).

Please tell me what an I14 is. Thanks!

International 14.

Its either a dumbed down Aussie 14' skiff or a turboed US/English 14 skiff, depending on your point of view.

Have you ever seen the movie "wind"? They race the old 14s near the start.

That sequence in the movie "Wind" is flat awesome!!!

Find it and a big screen with surround sound to view it on.

Dammit, we need a Hobie video that good.

_________________
hobiejohn at earthlink dot net
Fleet 297