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I think I'm resending my original thoughts on the mast breakage. At least on the Scorpion rig, the spinnaker hound is probably 1', maybe 18" above the standard hounds. Moving the trapeze wires up there probably added a little bit of compression to the mast, but I doubt enough to fold a...

Depends on the boat. My testing was done in flatter water (1' chop or so) with the latest equipment. Pulling the windward board and putting the bow down let us go from 12kts to 13.5kts upwind with very little loss in angle (maybe 1-2degrees). Obviously in chop this is pretty heavily impacted...

For 12kts of boat speed upwind, that's about 15kts of wind speed and above. To get to 10kts, we probably need 11-12kts of TWS. I'm working on getting a more accurate F18 polar diagram.

The Cirrus 901 can’t plane upwind, nor can any F18. We get into a semi-planning mode at around 12kts of boat speed upwind, where the leeward hull is providing plenty of dynamic lift. This is partly why flatter sections from the daggerboard trunk aft as found on the Scorpion, C2, Akurra and Evo...

My understanding is most of the fleet flipped at least once, so that wasn't necessarily a handicap. Watching the interview, Matthieu said they "removed the little wheels on the back of the boat"...i.e the training wheels. Just a joke. The 901 is quick in big breeze downwind, where the Cirrus R1...

I was probably a bit too definitive in my statement. The team said they stuffed the bows into a large wave and the mast folded. This is the general failure mode on an F18; kite up, bear away into the wave in front of you, stuff it hard while the helm is easing the mainsheet, snap/fold. In this...

Only if Team Australia break down.

Certainly strange, but C2’s have been known to split at the seams. Add in the sub-optimal rudder system and the lower volume compared with new designs and it’s the last boat I would choose for the race.    My choice-an Evo with a Mk. 2 Infusion on a trailer as a spare (95% of the parts are...