Mark, Carl

To address som of your comments on the V20.

During the desgn phase,a crew weight of 350 was used as a baseline for the calculations. This was primarily driven by the market in the US pushing that weight for this class of boat. Optimum weight for any platform is a minomer without stating the wind speed, sea state, and point of sail.

Randy and the Smyth team were tasked with coming up with a sail plan that optimized the limits imposed by an 8'-6" beam, but was easy handle and tunable over a wide range of weather and crew combinations.

Carl: This forum is watched closely by a lot of people looking for some closure on a NA F20 rule. It seams the closest its come is to try and baseline around the I20 platform. This with limited enthusiasm as to be a formula using grandfathered platforms all must change something. As a compromise,a lot of areas race the I20 and NE60 straight up. The mismatch in rigs makes this messy for clean formulas though. Given that the V20 was designed on its own. The 300lb platform was created because it was easily acheivable with traditional materials and methods while maintaining a system with equal or better ruggedness. The boat itself needs to sell for no more than the current 20's on the market, I20, Fox, etc. Why create a system around carrying an extra 100 lb for no reason.

The true thought in this platform has centered around building something easy to use. The hulls have a unique high aspect centerboard system that does not require gaskets. No maintenance and no worries about turtles, sandbars, rays, coral heads etc.
The main sail being square top comes with all the current touted advantages, on a very tunable mast. It's also reefable for the big blows. The jib sytem is unique in being drop setand fully battened. It can be depowered in a blow without the normal luffing. It is sized and has overlap so it is efficient reaching unlike the I20, yet still self tacks for the set and forget crew work. The area you mentioned as a concern that has had significant debate and thought put into it is the spin set up. The I20 spin at 270sf relative to the 60 is easy to handle becuase of its aspect ratio and the location of its attachment points, not because of its size. The spin setup on the V20 has stay sheeting and an aspect similar to the I20 and a clean snuffing system withou dumpy bags. Although larger, it should be no more difficult to handle than the I20 spin. Its location and aspect ration means it will close reach as well. This is only an issue in the lightest of winds anyway on either platform, while the larger jib set up will more easily make the transition to jib reaching conditions.

The project continues on track with the hulls out of the molds this week.

While 1 platform can not solve everything, let them know what issues are a concern, because in the early phases of the prototype, al lot can be added to make this a sailors designed boat.

Matt