Hakan,
Indeed, I don't envie the situation the A-class is in now. I'm sure it'll find a way out but some difficult times are ahead.
This is going to be a disaster for the class unless the officials starts acting fast. And so far they have done NOTHING!!!
I'm not sure it will be a disaster, but I think we can expect the officials to be behind the curve on this one. I seem to recall that the same officials that came up with the "weak rule" are now the ones to correct the situation. In my life I haven't seen people cgo back on their initial opinion in a timely manner.
Personally, I think the partial lifting foils are an area that is perfect for the A's. It is in line with all developments that they have done in the past, like the carbon mast. As always I believe this to be the strong point of the A's. Especially now when they are no longer the fastest boat on the water or even the fastest singlehander. Two items they used to be in the past. As is commonly known, I truly believe that disaster is around the corner when tehe A's allow themselves to become a tightly regulated (concervatively designed) single sail singlehander. In that attire it will fall behind the other classes that WILL incorporate more and more upgrades like the carbon masts and lightweight construction over coming years. With each upgrade the A's will have less of an advantage and eventually just fall behind. The only way to stay out in front is to develop new stuff and progress the design. That has been the only reason the A's have stayed ahead of the fleet for so long as the 60's A's would have been overshadowed by other classes by the 80's if they hadn't evolved.
Personally, I think that fully lifting foils can be effectively banned, but partial foiling is impossible to ban without tightly regulating the daggerboard setup and limiting the boat to only one daggerboard set and a single rudderboard set. That will add alot of (detail) rules to the A-class rule set which is in direct conflict with the A-cat philosophy. So I think the way out it to go back a step remove to weak ruling altogether and introduce a single new rule that disallows full foiling (clear of water surface like the Moths). Then, let the development begin, with the A's having a new lease on life.
Wouter
