You are right there Dirk and I have said so many times.
When the total sail area of a boat is limited to a rather low level, then putting everything in one sail is best. When it is not then "slotting" the rig and placing more canvas low is better.
My reasoning is only that limiting the total sailarea to such a low level is nothing more then an arbitrary choice.
There is no physical or technical reason to limit the total sail area to such low totals. Ergo there is no performance oriented reason to favour an uni-rig over a sloop rig for new designs/classes. And that links directly to my amazement about the M32.
Everytime the discussion hangs up on the CHOICE to limit the total sail area to very low totals. And every time I say something like; increase the sail area limit of the A-class to 20 sq.mtr. and see what happens then. I can garantee you that you will not see any uni-rig anymore.
by the way I would be highly worried if by my next step on an airplane I would notice jibs in front of the wings ;-)
What are slats and flaps then ?
Wouter
