Well Bitsa deservidly has been back on the water this year after quite a revamp. Back on with the A rig after the really unbalanced F16 low aspect rig created so much drag at the back, move the travellor foward to accomodate the much shorter foot giving me a chance to remove the gantry rudders at the back and go more conventional, fix the hole from the damage caused by the extra drag from the T foil / gantry, rejig the main sheet to a cascade system, and move the main sheet to the front.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/401/bitsa006.jpg/So a very different boat. With the A rig on Bitsa is very well behaved, with almost neutral helm with just a touch of Lee helm when the spinny is really loaded up. I do like these A Rigs and despite being only 14sqm it is just as fast as the 15sqm F16 rigs. The class is really missing a trick here as A rigs are available secondhand with the early masts being more than strong and stiff enough to cope with the spinny + the development of sails and masts will always mean a steady supply of S/hand and huge amounts of development
I do like the very foward position of the sheet for the single hander.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/40/bitsa005.jpg/Everything you do is facing foward out of the boat, and right where you want to be pulling from, out on the wire upwind your feet are locked on and if you pass the sheet foward of the rear stay, you can edge foward to the front beam.
I can only recommend the cascade system as being not only cheap to build, effective but buttery smooth.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/507/bitsa004.jpg/ The new rudders have been good, maybe a bit old fashioned in aspect ratio but do the job. I do need to be careful as they can be pretty effective brakes if you turn them too much in a tack.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/444/bitsa013.jpg/So to sum up things then, yes I am pleased with the way the boat is beginning to shape up. In comparison to the new Nacra F16, it would seem pretty on par if not better upwind, just a fraction slower downwind and that I suspect is more the spinny rather than the boat. So no excuses, down to the skipper then
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/405/bitsa009.jpg/
