Carl -

Problem with the old Squares, is the bow and hulls forward of the front beam are not structual to carry spinnaker loads. That is wy they all used very short pig-tails and long forestays to the boaw of each hull. The loading was designed to resist up and down flex - not in and out that a spinnaker might cause.

The old glass hulls only had half a cardboard tube glassed in place along the sides of the hull. (Another reason for oil-canning) When trapping against the side of the hull - always keep your feet at the top of the hull so you don't end up wearing a hull as a pair of boots!

The older aluminum mast was the 5.2 profile extruded to the 30 feet length, and modified with add on to 31-32 feet. I still have my 1983 boat and for a 20 year old still looks great. But - I wouldn't try to add on the spinnaker using the production hulls and the lightweight mast section.

This means having to buy/build and invest in a new set of hulls and a good carbon mast designed for a boat to carry a spinnaker. A big investment for a class that eventually refused to tear-down and travel.

Now - if one were to take a set of Formula hulls, and just convince Performance Cat to extrude longer cross beams, and purchase a longer traveller from Harken, then that might be a better way to go - plus the newer cat hulls are optimized for speed compared to the older Square hulls.

Regardless - if someone wants to schedule a SQUARE MEETING here in midwest, I'd travel for a 3 day event. Plan to get back on the water this summer and shake out cob-webs - but an "A" Class boat is also being considered.

Cheers