Current discussion is to keep the same main and increase size of the jib and spinnaker. The world council is trying to act very cautiously on this issue, and is seeking input from the technical committee, builders, sailmakers, and class membership through the poll. If anyone has additional comments they can also pass them along to Mike or I. This issue could also be a topic of discussion at the US class meeting in Sarasota.
So far, I am very impressed with the diligence the class is putting into even considering such a large change.
The only way to improve the spin performance is to increase the luff length which creates issues in carrying it. The next issue and is the big one for me is that it's another opportunity for abuse. I don't want to see teams carrying the larger spin when they don't meet the weight for the sail plan. You and I both know this will be abused. If you can tell me every light team in the fleet is carrying the proper corrector weight at all regatta's then I might be able to get onboard otherwise it's just another option that won't attract new teams and carries more hassle than it's worth. Don't forget the Frenchies lobbied hard and won for light teams to carry the larger sail plan and carry the corrector weight and their argument was all the development was on the large sail plan won't this create the same perceived disparity?
If this does go through will smaller teams be allowed to carry corrector weight so they can run the larger sail plan? It all gets so complicated for how much gain in participation?
All this is coming from a guy that has sailed 380 for the entire time he has been sailing F18's. So, in my opinion it aint broke so don't try and fix it.
