Maricat Yardsticks. Should all Maris be on the Foam boat Y/stick?

[Scuttlebutt]

There has been a lot of discussion . that is healthy. If there are people that feel strongly about some of these issues raised then put it on the line! Put a motion forward to be voted on by the members. I am assuming that all the people making all this noise have shown a financial commitment to the class by being members of the association. Let the sailors decide!

[knobblyoldjimbo]

Don't think that's really necessary.  

 

The Association, when it runs an event should clearly indicate the handicapping that it's going to be using and the membership will then decide if the event is worth going to.

 

I think the issue here is that the handicapping wasn't clearly identified and it wasn't clear that the winner could only be a "super-sloop".

 

Since there is probably only one state championship each year then the issue will occur once per year.

 

At other regattas it is up to the organiser to decide how it is going to be working out placings and they should publish this fact.  That the Toukley Brass Monkey didn't do this in 2013 and it only became clear on day 2 is disingenuous and will potentially impact  attendance in the future, given that previously it had always used the Koonawarra system.

 

It is always dangerous to make assumptions and one would hope that the upcoming regattas at Mannering Park and Speers have made this clear.

[darcy1945]

All future regattas at Toukley/ Mannering Pk, will be on VYC or Koonawarra Y/stick, I was not on the organising committee for the last, but will in future.

[humungus2]

VYC + the Darcy factor. Again I don't care either way but the Maricat association has allways and will allways run 3 divisions . Cat, sloop & super sloop. There has never been and from what I can see never will be a different yardstick for grp v foam within the association. I will be sailing a grp boat at Mano and don't expect to do any worse on scratch then I normally do. Hopefully I will prove a point

[knobblyoldjimbo]

Don't be unreasonable Mick, the Darcy factor as you describe it was only to be more, rather than less inclusive.

Now that it's clear how the "new" association wants to proceed then skippers can make their own decisions.

[humungus2]

You must have great eye site Jimbo. That's only my opinion. As has been said, you shouldn't make assumptions. I don't speak for the committee because I am not on it. Here's an idea. You could always ask the committee what their intensions are instead of talking crap.

[Dakota4114]

I got a mk2 maricat. When I use to take care after my boat. I use to be up near the front of the pack. Since I never clean, polish and keep it in running order Im now down the back. Plus I'm not in it for the prises I'm there to just have fun. Now since I'm the class measure I'll be trying to weigh all the boats at all titles till I drop out. And To how need to read the EQUIPMENT SPECIFICATIONS rule (m) befor racing. Like missing gunel rubbers.

[darcy1945]

Interesting, that my boat is the only one that sails with no gunel rubbers, and this suddenly comes up from the new measurer, If my boat was under weight I could understand the sudden interest.

[darcy1945]

Rule "m" is a general rule about modifications and would also cover, righting ropes, rudder pull down systems, extra hatch covers or the lack of hatch covers etc. If the measurer was to be pedantic he could blow out a large percentage of Maris currently competing.  

[interested]

Ironic how some on here are saying the Maricat  Class is all about FUN and close racing and yet when the idea of raising the minimum weight is put forward we have these same people outright refuse.

Its obvious who the new committee are focusing on..The pointy end of the stick in which a dozen foamies will compete for titles and to boost numbers the class has to invite other sailors from different classes to Titles.

How about focusing on the entire current Mari Fleet and what it needs to prosper instead of the dozen Foamie owners and an assorted bunch of invited  ring-ins that attend titles..

[richard campbell]

Well done to every body for keeping this stupid argument going.

No-body will win.  The only losers will be the class. 

The silent majority sitting on the sideline, And watching with interest.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[humungus2]

Well done to you Richard. I agree

[knobblyoldjimbo]

Ah, but Richard, the silent majority sitting in the sidelines will make up their minds based on the noise generated by the noisy few.

 

I'm sure Tony Abbott would have preferred that it was not known that he had claimed expenses to go to Mr Slippers wedding; and has tried hard to stem the flow of information about the boats that keep arriving in spite of the election rhetoric.

 

Who was it who said he'd keep the bastards honest?  (ah yes, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Democrats Don Chipp).

 

NoisyOldJimbo !

[Scuttlebutt]

Honesty is not the same as being constructive. If I tell a women that she has a fat butt it may be honest but I will probably spend yet another lonley night at home. It is probably better yo ask her to walk with me as I have to tone up for sailing. Thereby I get fit and the benefits a smaller butt bring. Talking

[Scuttlebutt]

Honesty is not the same as being constructive. If I tell a women that she has a fat butt it may be honest but I will probably spend yet another lonley night at home. It is probably better yo ask her to walk with me as I have to tone up for sailing. Thereby I get fit and the benefits a smaller butt bring. Talking

[richard campbell]

Jimbo, The silent majority are always silent. But the have ways of using their loud voice in other ways. Like if they all turn up at an event and don't like the conditions, They don't return.

I can remember seeing a sign in the head office of a well known pizza franchise.

"People never complain, They just never return"

So you can paint it which ever way you want, Be as loud or as silent as you like,

But it still comes down to if the class suffers.

We all suffer.

Richard

[Captain Cosmo]

I owned and raced a Nacra 5.8 for several years from about 2004-2007. The boat was amazing and we had heaps of fun attending regattas all around the state. The boats sail number was 1213. At mixed fleet regattas we always performed well and in class state and national title events we often finished races with top 3 places. The weight of the 5.8 dropped considerably from about the 1500 series onward. I reckon we carried approx. 25-35 kilo extra fully rigged weight. We raced hard and achieved  top 3 overall placings at a few states. We were racing against new boats with all the new gear. There was about a $10K price difference between us and a 1500 or 1600 series boat and everyone sailed on the same yardstick. Nationals always had a handicap series within the series which was for boats1499 and earlier (before the weight reduction). Old boats would be racing in 2 series at once which was very exciting. My first nationals another old 1200 series boat won outright. I have also owned a Maricat (Mark 2 Glass boat) for 18 months and loved the boat. It surprised me how well it sailed on and off the wind. Why not continue with one yard stick (per configuration - cat, sloop, super sloop) and incoperate a GRP series within it. Lets face it if you want to win outright in any class you need to be a shit hot sailor or have a light weight tricked up boat (or both). I now sail a wooden Pacer with my 3 year old (yes much slower then the 5.8 and maricat) and have a ball. The boat cost $800 complete. It weighs way more then minimum weight but I got what I payed for. The top pacers are over $5k. I think the Maricat is a great boat and very affordable and would like another sloop rigged boat in a few years when the crew is a little bigger. This discussion is hurting the class, if I owned a Mari now I wouldnt attend association events with the current tensions. Sail for fun. One yardstick per configuration and a GRP series within class events (prize for first only). Just my thoughts. Your only racing for bragging rights, it doesn't appear to be worth this much. 

[Mako]

if your talking nacra 5.8 look at the last 3 nationals and the NSW states just run the boat 707 has placed 2nd at the last 3 nationals and just won the states so it helps but is not a rule to have the latest boat . You need to be a top sailor with a very well tuned boat, but big regattas you can be well placed on older boats, look at rohans result on custard truck in the maricats. Hobie 16 are where you will very rarely see an older boat at the top due to the boat not holding its stiffness very long due to the way the pylons and tramp are fixed but the have over 200 teams registered for the Worlds in February.

[Captain Cosmo]

707 is sailed by a red hot skipper, Shane Russell has been in cat racing for decades also racing a open bridgedeck 28ft cat up and down the east coast and his brother Piggy has a 5.8 world title to his belt. This is my point exactlyregarding old boats, they arecompetitive when looked after and sailed well. Keep the yardsticks the same, and as AquaRodent suggests, get new sails, drop weight of the boat with low profile lightweight blocks/ropes etc and lose a few kg's around the waistline. You'll feel better for it and fly a hull sooner. My maricat was a very quick boat, Darcy set it up with race rake and rudders before I had it.. It still had the old downhaul system, a lowsy outhaul, big old mainsheet and old sails but performed very close to the foam boats I raced against. With these further upgrades she would have been a real flyer. 

[Mako]

I agree totally, I sail on Foxy with Shane sometimes. It does equate to the same in maricats a hot skipper and a well tuned boat can and will do well in major regattas. So it does go to show that even if you have an older boat with a bit of work on both yourself and tuning of the boat and getting excess weight off it and yourself and learning to sail the boat very well you can win.

[Aqua Rodent]

And ultimately - it is about the sailing of a Maricat that makes it such a good boat.

 

98 multihulls at the Wildcat on the weekend.  3 Maricats - only 1 ended up doing most races (me). 

 

I ended up sailing with the asymmetric kite and the square head main (which made a mockery of the yardstick!) but allowed me to keep up pretty well with the Mosquitos and Nacra 4.5s.  

Raced Saturday with the 5yo as crew.

Raced Sunday solo.

 

I was asked many times why more Maricats weren't there as they thought the boat looked terrific and like a lot of fun - I didn't have an answer...  

 

Took the wife and 2 kids out for a burn up and down the beach on Sunday after racing, with the 2yo steering.  THATS what the Maricat is all about.

 

[humungus2]

You can't attend all regattas. This weekend is the Mano regatta, just a few weeks ago was the States and in 2 weeks I have Camberra. Two weekends in a row just will not happen in my house if I want to keep harmony. It would be nice and I copped plenty of crap from a few of the bigger boat sailors for not going to the Wild Cat.

[Scuttlebutt]

Spinnaker looks great!!

[Aqua Rodent]

Spinnaker looks great!!

Went really well too. So much better than the long soak with the boom out square! I vote for a Super-Duper Sloop division.

And Mick - it's all about how you sell it.

States were a 'community service'.

Wildcat was a 'holiday' at the beach.

Manno is a 'camping trip' with the family.

Dad of the year.

[knobblyoldjimbo]

Not interested in getting into any further 5h1t-fights but I think in the past when this has been done the ssd Mari competes as an F14.  Merlo used to do this I think with his high top sail and there have been kites tried out several times in the past.  

 

Does look good although I think the high top main looks a bit out of kilter stylewise compared with the curves of the hulls.  On the Windy it doesn't look bad possibly because the decks are flatter, but of course you didn't make it as a style statement!