i had a n5.5 uni about 10 years ago and loved it. wanting a bit more juice downwind, i built a bow foil, added a very lightly built spin pole and installed a reacher (on a roller-furler w/ 1:2 reverse purchase furling line) and went to town.

it was really quick downwind in light stuff (faster than wind speed by a good bit and didn't seem to suffer too much upwind. in windy stuff, i knew (all too well) that i could pitch it quickly, so i put the hiking stick under my butt and steered w/ the two sheets. seemed to work well.

the bow foil was important because the angles of the forestays changed so radically with these mods. the stock 5.5 uni forestays joined about a foot below the hounds, so a much lower join would radically change the loading.

i mentioned that the spin pole was very lightly built. i did this as a visual stress cue for over-enthusiastic skippers (me). when it started to look like a pretzel, it was time to back off.

i think the subsequent owner upgraded the pole and soon had a two piece mast. good times.