A question for you A cat guys who have made the jump to curved boards; what I understand, they are only "faster" for going downwind, and then only if the skipper has the skills to make it work (ie. exceptional ballance), kind of like sailing a foiling Moth. Is that about right?
Not exactly. The boat doesn't ride up on the curved foils and they didn't provide the big downwind advantage at first until the guys started figuring out that they could trapeze downwind with them.
They do provide some lift and reduce the wetted surface area of the boat through the water. More importantly, they provide enough lift that the limited floatation available from the hull shape can support the additional leverage sailing downwind with a sailor on the wire.
On my older A-cat, if it's really breezy, wild thing downwind is for survival. I have to get my weight inboard and heel the boat to take pressure off the bow and keep it from wanting to pitchpole...it's a little backwards to have to power up the boat to survive - but that's how it works.
