There will be a full report of the boat's performance after the Lake Hoptacong regatta on the 28-29 of this month. One of the aspects that has been left out of this convesation is that both Ian and fred are in a learning/discovery stage with the new boat. So while there has been some interesting data to date, detailed in greater amount on the boatdesign forum, than here, it is still early on in the understanding process. I would say to make any conclusions at this point is a bit premature. The early reports are that the boat is handling in a manner that was expected from the boat by the designer. Ian has stated that his learning curve has been quite steep and he tends to load the hulls up sometimes by sheeting too tight among other issues. So far they are driver issues. So why dont we give the critiques a rest as we await more definative information to come out of the upcoming regatta. It also looks like there could be as many as three LR2's at the A-Class Worlds to be held in Islamorado, FL in November. That will be a great showcase for the boat, the helmsman and the class itself. There will be more than one new design and thought process making a debut there. I would estimate that there will be the latest generation of sails from Glaser, Ullman, Ashby, Landenberger, Goodall, Oxo, RacerX and others. there will be at least 4-6 relatively new boats and designs including the LR2, the new Peter Cogan/Ben Hall design, A new Marstrom (wave-piercing), 2-3 new Australian boats, the refined A3 and possibly a couple of one-off designs along with the rest of the existing competitive designs out there. I sail a Boyer MKIV and if my sailing abilities were that of the top 20 I would be able to finish on this boat somewhere in the top 25%. What hampers me more is my own abilities than that of the boat itself. Would my boat win, probably not, but the speed difference between the top boats is incremental.
Tom just a few pics to show the difference between Ian's boat (red) and a Flyer (green)...pic's are a comparison at full load (i.e sailing on one hull) RG Attached Thumbnails
