The real question here in my opinion is wether the F16 class need a smaller mainsail? Or are there other reasons (except what Hans brought up) for decreasing sail area?
Would it not make more sense to increase total sail area by an amount equivalent to the typical area of mast below the luff on a current F16? This would mean that an existing, fully-optimised F16 would come out very close to fully-optimised under the new rules, and there would be no net decrease in sail area for new boats.
Or is the mast area we're talking about so small that we shouldn't worry about it?
Paul
