RE: 1.7 Meter
Rob,
Thanks for the reply, Lets start with the comment about the expence of the AC class. First the AC is over 80 inches long and 30 lbs vs 68 inches and 21 lbs for the 1.7. Next and more importent is the mast and sails. The mast is 106 inches off the deck. I was the only supplier of a proper mast for the boat. They were bladder formed in a closed mold. Made from 100% unidirectional carbon. Being hand made they were very expensive. Add to that the boat had 3000 sq in of sail. That is as much sail area as an Opti. The sails alone are $250. And that's 1/2 the price of an Opti sail. Next is the 2 channel limit, this is wrong. The class allows 5 channels. As for spinnakers, it was felt they were not needed. If in the future you can get enough 1.7 skippers to agree with you, you can change the rule. Same goes for the 300mm beam. The idea was to keep the boats close enough so one hull design would not have an advantage over anouther. The last thing you want in a new class are hulls being out designed before you get the chance to get the class off the ground. Considering the size and expence of molds for this class, we wanted builders to feel they could design and build boats that could compete right out of the box. Last, I'm glade to here another skipper that thinks the boat is "awsome", we think so too. Just so you know, I hope to have a set of plans on the web very soon. There is no reason that a boat can not be hand made from wood and be competitive. I hope to see more boats very soon. The count today is 12 in Detroit and one in SF California.