The 4.9 was designed for small sail area, small crew weight = smaller loads.
Add kite and extra beam, will add extra loads the boat was not designed for. Those beams are not adequit for the job and AHPC know this.
Stephen, you are now simply guessing at stuff you obviously don't know sqad about, sorry.
You can contact Greg and ask for his confirmation. He will tell you that they simply used the same mainbeam and dolphinstriker as that was overdimensioned on the Taipan anyway.
Wouter
you are a unit Wouter, I do talk to Greg and have as little as 2 weeks ago.
Let me quote Marcus since I do not have any clue
Wouter - who the hell are you to slag off somebody you dont know with those comments.
Actually Wouter - you are wrong.
Your are only justifying your own work.
Your starting point for establishing a weight for the class was a good starting point, but you forgot a couple of factors.
1. The Tiapan 4.9 was never intended to be a spinnaker clad catamaran & hence it simply lacks in bouyancy. Therefore the only way to overcome this problem is to increase the hull size/volume which then increases surface area ( ie/ Blades, Vipers etc). More surface area = more weight in my books. FYI - there is even considerable surface area differences between the US & Aus blade, with the viper having more area again.
2. The Tiapan 4.9 hull structure on those taipans below the minimum weight would never cope with spinnaker loads. To cope with the extra loads, aditional structure is required & gee wizz more weight creeps in.!!
You would be interested to know that the Taipan association here in aus has just passed a vote to increase those minimum weights by 3kg for the cat rigged & the sloop rigg will be determined when appropriate data is available.
I for one also like the fact that this box rule allows light weight boats, but in reality money will only buy the minumim weight boats & that is wrong.
I also disagree with the philosophy that not touching the rules is going to be bad for the class. To give stability to the class, the racing need to be fair & unbiased to the sailor who is prepared to go "all out" with money not being an object.
I would be proposing the F16 weights move similarly with the tiapan class - say 3-4 kgs added to both configurations.
Just my 2cents worth.
Marcus
Actually thought of another reason why you are wrong.
Plywood availability/quality in 2001 was much better than is available these days to the point where its not really worth while & you dont end up with the same weight boats anymore.
You data is now ancient & now irrelevant.
