Bill

as Pieterjan wrote the new BIMARE V1 A-class, with regard to the design, is a further development of the XJ, a boat widely appreciated as one of the best all around shapes for the whole range of winds. Expecially downwind in heavy conditions it can be pushed harder than most without worry of going over.
From the design side:
1) the V1 hull has a round deck in order to reduce wind-wave drag and to reduce the pictchpoling tendency (a tribute to Bill Roberts' philosophy);
2) both beams are 5 cm higher on the sea level (more clearance from waves),
3) the hull has less (around 7 mm) rocker aft and slightly flatter stern.
But the field where the V1 shows a "REAL" advantage over the XJ is stiffness:
the V1 platform (measured with the Phill Brander's method) is roughly 3 times stiffer than the one of the XJ (in other terms the flexure is a third). This result is achieved thanks to:
1) new larger beams - 95 mm instead of 80 mm - glued on demand;
2) unidirectional carbon tapes added between the beams.
The front beam is Kg 3,600 (about Kg 0,4 more that the old one fitted with the dolphin striker)
the rear beam is Kg 2,500 (about Kg 0,3 more).
The new larger beams are quite a lot stiffer than the old ones in torsion and significantly stiffer in flexure.
It goes without saying that, due to the lack of the dolphin striker, the front beam flexes a bit (however about half of the amount measured on other strikerless front beams for A cats). In order to counteract this flexure, BIMARE developed a system to have the front beam coming out of the mould with a prebent of 8-9 mm.
The new BIMARE V1 is on sale in three different versions:
a) the cheap AJ –V1 (glass vinylester);
b) the standard XJ-V1 (carbon-vinylester)
c) the RACE V1 (carbon-epoxy).