That's basically Rick (White's) "Hooter" idea- very flat, even could be used upwind in light air, problem was the increased need for really tight luff tension. AHPC supposedly voided the warranty if you used them due to this issue. Now if you used a pole that had a striker so all the tension was on the pole and at the bow tangs it might be okay. Remember the American Tornado sailors in the last Olympics used the very flat Chupacabra spi- but it was a disaster vs the conventional spis on the course because the wind blew too hard to use it upwind and downwind it was slower-
In the Worrell I ground crewed on we used too large a spi for our Taipan 5.7- the Nacras had larger, but flatter spis so could use at larger angles vs ours- definite advantage in distance racing. There was a boat with one of Rick's Hooters- they were newbies- sail did good reaching but couldn't match the larger spis at deeper angles.

Kirt

Kirt


Kirt Simmons
Taipan, Flyer