The argument is raging again about building to minimum weight. I am finding out that what you get is like the engine in a dragster. Built for one fast run.

My 2006 Blade is on its third set of rudders. The heads keep splitting. The first time I ever went on a screaming two up jib reach a dagger broke (we weren't even trapping).

Now, I have a deck flexing so bad it has completely let go at the dagger board trunk. This is a boat that has been sailed predominately single handed on a lake by a 180 pounder. Both hulls have 4 foot long cracks between the trunk and the rear beam approximately 4 inches down the sides . Cracked outside, cracked inside, I am sure the foam is cracked too.

I removed the deck and found that the only thing supporting it's span was the trunk. There was a 1 inch gap between the foam laminated into the deck and the hull sides. This left a couple thin layers of glass to deal with the transition from thick to thin. There were no bulkheads in this area of the hull. Only a couple of loose fitting foam blocks between the hull and trunk. Removing the tramp track showed where the glue securing it had failed as there were many screw holes that had seriously elongated

So, an 180 person is able to break down the boat sailing it on a lake from June to September in only 5 years. I am seriously dissapointed in these major mechanical failures. This boat has never been in a collision and has never run aground.

I don't have the heart to try to sell this to someone. I sailed a 1977 Nacra for many years and a club member is still sailing it. I cannot imagine what a Blade will look like in 34 years.