"Gary" wrote in message

The fact that every record in ocean racing is being set by multihulls
kinda pokes holes in everything you say. It doesn't matter how high you
can point if you go twice as fast 10 degrees lower. Where I race, in
light airs or big winds the first boat home is always a multihull.

I raced a Snipe with a sailing club that for years had Snipe, MC-Scow, and
Hobie 16 fleets. The general rule was that if the air was very light to
dead calm, the cats would be started behind the monos. If the wind was 5
kts. or better, the cats were started first. I recall races in which the
cats were started behind the other two fleets, only to have the wind freshen
subsequently. The Hobies would then blast through the other two fleets and
be back on their trailers before we made it back to the club dock.

Max