We have discussed spis and shapes earlier. As always the design is a compromise, but the trend is going to flatter shapes. Looking at the performance of the "code zero" the USA and the Netherlands teams have produced in front of the games in China is one example. Rick White added a "Hooter" to his Taipain several years ago and have said it is a very fast downwind sail as well as a good upwind sail.
Dave Calvert just posted this to the MHml maillist
I do believe they indicated it was a flatter version still than a normal' code zero.
The fellow Jay Glaser, who is being giving credit for this 'development', was a crew for a number of years for Tornado silver medialist Randy Smyth, and worked in his loft.
We designed sails like this about 10 years ago. We worked with Rick White testing the prototypes. They were very effected upwind, reaching and downwind, on most cats.
We determined that with lighter boats, with the right sail area to displacements, these sails can be faster than larger spinnakers downwind.
This requires very aggressive driving to sail hot and keep the speeds up.
Bill Roberts remarked, "To sail these sails properly, it looks like a drunk man is driving the boat".
When I used the prototypes, on a Nacra 6.0, I was able to sail about the same upwind angles as the jibs. But, instead of having a crew to leeward in light air, we were double trapped.
Dave Calvert
It makes sense to me. I certainly want to play with flatter shapes and compare them to "standard" shapes once we launch our boats. It is always easier to trim draft into a sail designed flat than flattening a sail designed with a lot of draft. The F16 should be a platform with the weight/power ratio to benefit from this type of sail. Only major problem is making the sail so it measures in.
