First, how does the Mutt compare to the Bucc? Obviously, it’s three feet shorter and almost a hundred pounds lighter. Not so obviously, the sail plan is quite a bit smaller and lower, while the beam is similar to a Bucc. This means less power, and less need for hiking in any given wind conditions. Think of it as a tame Bucc with the lazarette cut off. The rigging and foils are similar, and Mutts can carry spinnakers, although Jim’s didn’t.

Racing the Mutt turned out to be quite interesting. The boat definitely responds to sail, foil, and hull trimming techniques similarly to the Bucc. Jim and I routinely hand flew the jib sheet and rolled the boat slightly to leeward when on the reach legs, and found we did not lose ground to the top boats in the class, which were flying spinnakers. I’m not sure about a dead leeward leg, though. We didn’t have many of those due to the shortened courses the Mutts were routinely given to save time.

Going to windward, we found we were competitive when we did the start right, which was twice out of seven races. We couldn’t keep up with Gib, who could point a bit higher and go faster at the same time. If I were looking to tune up a Mutt, I’d definitely be talking to Gib! I suspect his foils are pristine and his sails are definitely quite new. He’s also very good at getting the most out of the boat. Several of the other boats seemed to be similar in capability, and tactics determined the differences in finishing position.

While the Mutt is slightly slower than the Bucc, it’s not that much slower. In every race, the front half of the Mutt fleet caught the last few Buccs in the B fleet, despite a five-minute head start. It’s definitely a fun and challenging boat to race, both requiring and teaching the same skills as the Bucc, and more amenable to sailing with a novice crew in a blow. I wonder if the spinnaker is too small, or if the spinnakers used at BNAC were blown out.