The platfroms are not the story and buying a DNA isnt going to make you competitive. The platform was not the reason that Ben, Matt and Lars didnt finish in the top 10, it was the masts. Ben, Matt and Lars all sailed with a untested, new Hall layup that ended up being too soft for and aft. It was finished days before the container went to Europe and once they tested it they all went out looking to buy a fiberfoam mast. Take a look at Lars' sail upwind, no downhaul and the sail is full of wrinkles. All three of these guys were sailing with the same experimental Hall section that wasnt tested.

Ben's been showing up a major events with new layups for a long time, he showed up in FL with a paper thin section, lost his trap line and snapped the mast. The same thing happened here, Ben showed up with a new mast. The proof is that Lars and Matt were counting on the same mast section, and it didnt work.

Ben Moon was using a proven fiberform mast thats why he was fast.

The hull shapes are all pretty close, I think you'll see that the next major race will prove that out and the EVO2 platform will be back in the top 5 again, assuming its got a good mast section tuned to a good sail.

Peter Cogan is a very talented sail designer and hull designer, these results are not a fair representation of his design.

The sail/mast combination is the engine, thats what you should all be talking about. The class is still shaking out the effects from the huge heads on the sails, add that to the new mast stiffness profile, more stiff sideways, soft for and aft. Add these two together and I think its going to be while before all these variables are sorted out and the equipment stops being the story.

If all the sailors had the same mast section then you could start comparing the plaforms, but they dont, so its not a fair comparison.

Matt and Lars are two of the best US sailors and to have them finish so far out of contention is an obvious sign that something was terribly wrong, and what was wrong was the masts. The EVO platform has done well prior, the probability that it effected Lars, Ben and Matt all at the same time is very low. The variable that changed, and was untested, was the new mast.

The US guys have been testing the bend charactoristics on the current mast sections and they are all over the place, even with a small set of manufacturers.

Buying a specific platform isnt going to make you competitive unless you have the right mast and sail.

The story here isnt the platforms, its the masts.