I like that manufacturers are going that direction but I think some of the people who have gone to the high (higher, I guess) aspect mains have had a bit of difficulty (well, maybe difficult is too strong of a word) tuning them right.
+1
This is a trend we have been seeing in the all the formula and box rule classes for a while. With each rev of foils, sails and rig there will be a small bump in performance but it will take an increasingly higher skillset to maximize those improvements. That magic sweet spot will continue to get smaller and smaller, and the performance hit for falling out of the sweet spot will get increasingly more painful.
Some of us will have to make a choice, chase the potential performance gain and dedicate the stick time to maximize it or stay with a configuration that is more forgiving. It's nice to have options.
I feel trend this is somewhat self regulating in the long term, although it adds a lot of expense to the sport.
Giant square tops, super high aspect foils etc all may have some theoretical performance gain over another design at some theoretical sea and or wind condition. If you sail a whole season, how many days do you get where the conditions are exactly the same? Most of the extreme feature “trend of the day” things, like the giant square top or the super long bows etc ,etc have all been tried on designs many years ago and I have yet to see much if anything truly new come out in the last 5 years or so.
A top level guy comes out and wins an (1) event and the lemmings all jump over the cliff having to equip their ride with the latest or upgrade. The top guys were going to win anyway, and most of the extreme features seem to have narrow windows for gain or require an added level of skill to realize. The average weekend warrior is not going to see squat with the change. In fact bouncing systems and using incorrect techniques, I feel, cause a loss in general performance for many.
The designs that have the most balance and range seem to stay. They do not generate the press. The builders have to pay for this research so the current balance with weekly “new features” getting spread over every boat sold – good idea or not.
