Steve,
I hope the regatta is going well for you. It would be interesting to hear how its going.

I just want to clarify something on the issue of weight of boats:


When the Viper came out in Zandvoort it weighed 137kg.

Following this a statement was made by AHPC identifying how 12kg could be removed from that weight
to make it 125kg. I think this has alrady been posted somewhere on this forum. Whether this weight has been achieved or not we won't know until one is weighed.

Similarly the boat Formula Catamarans took to Zandvoort was heavier than the class min.at 111kg
It was one of the first boats out of the mould and following detailed analysis of the weights
it was obvious just as with the Viper there was potential weight saving.

I've just taken delivery of a Blade platform and boards and have been comparing weights with the one that went to Zandvoort and I have already measured a saving of 5kg. This is not with bathroom scales but calibrated professional digital scales.

There is no increase in cost for this saving and given I can see probably 2 or 3 kg more that could
be saved I'm expecting the boat to come in on or below min weight.


Now as you would know Marcus put up a post indicating he did not think he could get to min weight.
However I've been studying the weight aspect of the design from the beginning and together and I think
we should have it licked.

This weight reduction trend is quite normal as the first boats are freqyuently a bit heavier as the build
process is bedded in.

When you get back I'd be happy to kick around the different philosophies over a beer.

Regarding your needs- if the Taipan best suits your needs then I wish you well and will even
keep an eye out. In fact I've almost got one finished that I stopped to do the Blade project and you
can have that just for material cost.

Regards,
Phill