Yeah... Like which one? ... I can't think of a single developement. I think the Tornado class has developed and led EVERY improvement you see in the production spin boats. You have 50 teams all trying to come up with a better way of doing it... AND... they are working 24/7 at it... What company would not go to school on the Tornado fleet. Hell... they just buy the talent.
The A class rules allows hull and mast and sail changes... but the hard wing sail may obsolete the entire fleet unless rule changes are put in.
In fact the F18 wants to LIMIT development. ... the F18 mantra is to also a SMALL amount of developement to keep more boats in the game.
Mark,
Tornado class has limited development FOREVER! Open your eyes dude. Who had square top sails first? It wasn't the tornado. Carbon masts? not the tornado. Spinnakers? not the tornado. Snuffers? not the tornado. Gybing Daggerboards? definitely not the tornado...as a matter of fact, those boards are REALLY old school.
The tornado class has gone a long way with sail development and I think they have been cause for a good bit of refinement in spinnaker shape - but new sail shapes are coming out monthly on F18s and lately there is a big initiative for refinement of F18 foils. New light-weight (and low cost) aluminum wing masts are now available that rival carbon...many changes...many developments.
Don't mis-interpret me here - I love the tornado and hate the fact that it's now omitted from the olympics in '12. I've got some harsh words I would like to toss at our buddy "Charlie" too. But to say that catamaran development is dead now that 12 active boats in the US don't have a golden nugget is not being clear headed.
