Is there any direction in the A-Class about the preferred board design? It seems like the designers are starting to figure out the curved board concept.

Thoughts anyone?

Mixed results have'nt proved them fast...yet. There is probably a wind window that would make them faster, but in the end, It's the skipper, and probably the sail design thats proving fast.
Although, on the catsailing DVD that came out a few years ago, Gashby says "the newer designed boats of today are probably 5 minutes faster around the course". Maybe the wave piercing design, maybe canted or curved boards, not sure what design feature he is alluding to.
Marstrom curved boards not installed $2000 not worth it to me, but if I was made of money, I would buy them!

I have not found any reports of the success (or not) of curved boards at the recent NA's..

Similar question... did anybody use the really big square top mains at the NA's, opinions?

I noticed that several of the boats in the top 10 at the recent European Championships had curved boards. From the pictures i was able to see that 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th all had curved boards ( i think). Almost every race was sailed in under 10 knots, which i think would favor the straight boards.

I think most would agree that the skipper, rig and sail are the most important factors. It is interesting to see another wave of development in the class beginning. There hasn't been much change since 2004 with the A2 and the Flyer 2.

The class is very appealing, I want to make sure i'm keeping up with the design trends in case i decide to purchase a boat in the near future.

Ashby's new boat has curved boards. The Curved board Marstroms at the Worlds, Islamorada last Jan., and last month's NAs were "occasionally faster", as Goran Marstrom got a couple of seconds in moderate conditions at Islamorada. But I saw him with his boards UP going downwind that day???? Say what, I thought at the time??? Ashby (Lars, Brewin, etc) make boats go fast regardless: if it ncreases their distance over the pack by 5 minutes (added to the 5 minutes they are already ahead), well, there you are....Even more advantage. Now- how does the "other guy" make them go?

I agree with Mark that the jury is still out on this. I'm an "other guy" and I sailed next to plenty of "other guys" with curved boards at the Belmont Worlds. I couldn't see any discernible speed difference in straight line speed between those boats and my Geltek Flyer II with canted boards. Ashby has been sailing his prototype boat in Australia using canted boards waiting on the result of the ballot which is designed to clarify the spacing of board tips. He intends to use curved boards if the ballot gets up. He has been in Europe recently though sailing F18 at Carnac and Texel. He didn't sail the European A titles - so no clues there. They were won by Bob Baier who used curved boards and a small head sail. Second by one point was Steve Brewin using canted boards and a big head sail. How do we figure all that out!!!! I'm just sitting back enjoying all this with my money still in my pocket. Although I have been trialling a big head sail for the last 4 months. It's way faster for me at 90kg down hill, but started out slower than my own sail up hill. I've been working hard with some changes to the top third and it's getting faster up hill. I reckon this has more potential to make me faster than going to curved boards. I've tested this theory by using the sail on a Boyer MkIV with fat straight boards on canted hulls. It's still fast.
I'm using this sail on a Tim Kirkham designed Object in the Top End of Australia Titles in Darwin in three weeks time, so maybe I'll learn more there.

Cheers
John Dowling
AUS9

Just got some first hand feedback from the European Titles. The Nikita was very fast as were the boats with curved boards in the predominantly light wind. This seemed to be the case in both upwind and downwind mode with them keeping the boards down all the time. The canted boards had to be raised downwind to stay near them.
The winning sail was an Ashby small head 09 Worlds cut followed by a Brewin big head then a Landenberger small head. General feeling was the big head sail kept the canted board boat with the curved board boats. There was only one point between firat and second so maybe it had more to do with what they had for breakfast!

Cheers
John Dowling
AUS9

I think it's very healthy for the class that we had 3 different brands of sail, 3 different brands of masts, 3 different brands of platforms and both straight and curved boards in the top 3 at the Europeans.

So maybe - but just maybe - the sailor is of importance too :-)

I keep hearing about the Object and have seen them for sale on the Australian A-cat site. What I have not seen is what one looks like. Could you post a picture of yours? Thanks.

TA: Isn't that a Tool? (Judging from the bow and rudder shape).

That's Stevie Brewin sailing a Tool.

I don't have a photo of the "Object" I'll be sailing in Darwin as it's not my boat. It's outside hooked up to my car rerady for the 3500km trip to Darwin starting in 7 hours time. I'll try and get some photos during the regatta and post them when i get back in about a month. The boat is one of the two which were for sale on the AUS website. I'm delivering it to the new owner in Darwin and sailing it in the regatta up there from 4-11 July. I've only sailed it once - seems great to windward and has loads of volume along the keel.

Cheers
John Dowling
AUS9

Crap, I skim read Tool. and posted accoringly.

I will try and find a pic of Mark Johnston's Black Object.

Here's the only photo I was able to finbd of the "Object" I sailed in the Darwin Regatta.http://manta.org.au/dmr2009/tuesday7july/content/DSC01300_large.html
It's AUS9 in the foreground with the orange numbers. It's a bit hard to see the shape though. I struggled to windward in the mainly light breeze of 6-10 knots. I think I needed a bit more breeze with my weight of 90kg to get it working throught the light chop. Perhaps a little too much volume on the keel for those conditions upwind. It was a rocketship downwind though - especially due to the big head sail I think.

This was my kind of winter sailing - 32 degrees centigrade, pristine blue water, 13 races, free food and drinks every night and a fleet of 16A's and 14 T's. Luckily my motel was staggering distance across the road!
I'm now at the stage of being satisfied that the big head sails are the way to go - there is now a brand new one in my shed waiting for the next regatta. It's the next version from those used by Stevie Brewin and Chris Field in the recent Europeans. The only changes made are a little more seam taper in the bottom panel and some carbon tape drive down the luff.

I can't give anything more on the curved board issue as none were used in Darwin. A few sets came back from Europe so we'll see them on boats when our season starts - also on the new Geltek boats.

Cheers
John Dowling
AUS9

John,

Thanks for posting that link. I can begin to see some of the shape. But overall, I wanted to see what one looked like.

Any work with S-boards on the A-cat?