That's interesting. I have wondered about the mast setup. The nice thing about being a rookie is that all technical information/opinions are more or less on equal footing until verified. Not as a matter of skepticism.

One reason I did not look at the A cat too seriously was the whole "power to platform" thing -- which is mast/sail power that is placed on the hull/crossbars. Seems almost like putting a 400 hp engine in a Volkswagen. Some want it and obviously can handle it.

The FX mast is listed at 27' 7" but appears to measure a little over 28'. However, the Blade mast is 28' also. Your comment had to do with mast weight, though. At 230 lbs and 6, I can balance (carefully) the mast with one hand. It doesn't appear all that heavy (I will weigh it.) Possibly you are talking about the mast plus the additional weight of all the accessories? It would interesting to compare the F16 total mast weight with that...

Despite the fine points, the question is still answered, I think, in that the power of the boat is at the edge for what the platform can handle. I noticed something interesting in Jeremy Evans review of the FX: That according to Gavin Colby, whom he listed as the FX's designer, the FX becomes "difficult" in 25 knot winds. No answer in the article as to why. But I deduced from the context that the boat was way overloaded.

My next thought was that maybe all big performance cat design seem to run into this problem of balancing sail to platform.



Duh on me, I can't find that mention. And the search engine fails me...