The boat with the boards in front is not build or designed by Nils but designed by Martin Fisher and i do not know who build it.
The banana boards is also not new in A-class because PJ of the Dutch A-class did used the banana boards already 2 years ago and he found out that there was not a real advanced better performance of the boat with the boards.

I also think that every body was getting nervous because the guy who was in front a couple of times ( Bob Baier ) using the
banana boards and they had the idea that this was the big trick but they forgot that he trained the last couple of months 4 days a week , so he is really a trained sailor and a good sailor and when the wind conditions where changing he did not win the races anymore, so are the boards really the trick. I don't think so and to be honest on what i have seen it is NOT the trick.

The class rules on boards is also set and it is not allowed to have the tips of the banana boards closer together then with a gap of 1,5 meter when they are full down and they have to stay within the boat width when they are in the hulls at the bottom so this makes it already more limited.

I think everybody is seeing a bigger ghost then there really is.

Cheers,

Hans Klok