Michael,

Glad you love trapezing as much as the rest of us.
It really does provide a new dimension to racing.
Great to have a result like that with your first outing. Now you just have to get the Nacra 5.8m's on yardstick.

As for kick up systems, there always has to be a fine line between keeping the rudders down and damaging the transom. The problem is finding that point. Can you increase load on the spring lock release system and still maintain the function ? Either modify the release system or avoid jellyfish at all costs.

You may see other catamarans with a rod type lockdown system that uses a locking pin that goes into the tiller. The rod bends upward under sufficient loading and lets the locking pin disengage from the tiller bar. If the load is too great or massively instantaneous the pin will bend instead and let the rudder free (a double safety element). Check out the AHPC website for details. The problem is that it would mean a major tear up of your existing system or a new set of rudders.

Regards,

Peter