I have questions about foot placement, where to mount foot straps for example.
Your photograph addresses this foot placement question. It appears that on a downwind reach, the crew is close to straddling the shroud while the helmsman is about half-way between the rear cross-bar and the shroud.
The footstraps on my Stealth are in the knuckle behind the rear beam, I'll find you a photo. What you can't see from this picture is that just out of shot to the right is a Dart 18 that we are about to overtake and we are being taken high by him so we have sheeted in and pointed up to a beam reach. To keep the boat trimmed we have moved forward. Usually Anne would be standing where I am and I would be further back. We have found that interlocking our foot positions allows maximum stability of the crew.
Another question: Have you messed about with the mast "rake?" What rigging do you have at the junction of the forestay and the bridle wires?
I don't know about 'messing about' with the rake but I have raked the mast quite a long way back! - I found that my new kite generated too much lee helm so needed more power in the main to counter it. Interestingly, it hasn't unbalanced the boat upwind.
The rigging below the bridlewires consists of a compression strut down to the pole to deal with the luff loads generated by the jib, a pair of stabilising wires from the bottom of the strut/pole junction out to the bow tangs and a pair of wires from the pole tip to the bow tangs.
One big difference that I see between our boats is that I have a sub-tramp snuffer bag and yours has a mid-pole snuffer system.
My boat originally had the tramp bag. This was replaced by a mid pole system as it is a better system.
I have yet to drive this boat very hard. I get the impression that it is going to be an entirely new experience to do so.
These boats are thoroughbreds! The F16 handles much better when pushed hard, the foils need high rates of flow to grip and generate lift. You'd be surprised at how strong these 'lightweights' are!
I like the unusual feel of owning a "one of a kind catamaran" in this entire country. The only Stealth in the entire New World???
I suspect you do have exactly that but should the exchange rate improve, I believe that more US sailors might be tempted to try Stealth ownership for themselves. The latest iterations of the boat are beautifully put together and very, very quick!
