I just got off the phone with someone close to Ben.

First off, $50,000 is a made up number.

Ben's wing contains $2000 worth of carbon and nomex. The skin is mylar shrink wrap (pennies per yard). Designed by Dave Hubbard, same designer as Cogito. Its a 2 element wing rig with twist control. It comes apart into 4 pieces and that simplifies transportation. About an hour on the Hall CNC, (substitute jigsaw for home builder) If you've got the skills (autocad), the desire (and $2k) and the time you can build a wing.

A brand new Glazer Acat sail is $1900 with Battens - Pentax RBS Carbon battan, plus shipping. That price is from a Hopatcong sailor that just got one. So its not out of the realm of being realistic for the class cost wise.

I misspoke in my earlier post about rule changes.

A rule change is a two stage process, first its proposed at the AGM, which happens at the worlds in Nov, and then its voted on by every member of the class, which wont happen in Nov. So bottom line is that if Ben wants to race his wing he can.

The question is how many of the other 99 sailors will race him.

Bill