I want to end my postings in this thread as I'm in danger of rehashing my points endlessly and I got some stuff to get done; like repairing some landyachts. By the way Dirk, you are warmly invited to come and join me at landyachting some time.

I just want to say that this whole discussion is just about nuances and that even its heated status does not deminish the A-cat design and A-cat class in any way. The setup they have now is the best that can be had under the specifics (limits) of their class rules. The heated discussion about unis or sloops doesn't affect them as it assumes that the design is unlimited in any way but the need to maximize speed around any given race course. Class rules very much go against such a free environment and so too the A-class rules. Otherwise the A's would have fitted spinnakers a long time ago.

I just hope that readers have read the posts with interest and have looked at the situation from several different viewpoints after making up their own minds just as the designers of IDEC2 an the new C-class champion Alpha have done.

I hope to have argued convincingly that sailboat design is simply too multifacetted to be able to capture it in a few simple design rules. Of which of course, "uni-rigs are best" is one such example. The other of course being that "Full foiling is fastest". I think the recent C-class match where the real racing was between the non-foiling Cogito and Alpha has shown that it is just not that simple. You can't just look at the results in say the moth class and then argue that the same will hold for all other classes. Again, class rules do play an important role in how the fastest setup inside a given class will look like. As such a different set of class rules can easily favour another setup. I hope to have convincingly argued that part of the situation.

Good luck to everybody and have a excellent weekend.

I'm going landyachting now ! (where spinnakers and jibs haven't been seen for centuries ! )

Wouter