Jake
I think it is easy to look at the boats and think they led the parade.
In hindsight, I believe that there were notable distance races that people wanted to compete, win and set records. Events drive the technology we use.
The pursuit of these trophies drove the interest in more and faster. The Worrel 1000 was the big driver of course...eg... we used Worrel chutes and then mere mortals like ourselves got into the spin game with events like the New England 100, the Statue of liberty, Down the Bay, and of course the Florida distance races. Eventually, you got the N20 class racing buoys along with Hobie Tigers and F18's.
The world changed.. the super boats, like the M20 and the current Nacra Carbon 20 and the current foiling boats all need a couple of big events that people want to do. Most of the races still exist.... still the super boats have not taken off in the market place, in part because of the price tag... but still... the question... What are you going to do with it... does not have a great answer... The interest in the distance races has dropped year after year.
So.... Do you think anyone will try and foil their way through the steeple chase and set a new record?
I was talking more about the production boats but you bring up an interesting aspect of this. What we saw in the development and creation of spinnaker equipped cats was largely created by the distance racers in the Worrell. This was because it was an open boat event where the boats had to meet only a few parameters and we saw home builds and all sorts of stuff designed to go fast. The first thing I thought of when I saw the Phantom was how fast you could get up the Florida coast if you could keep it in one piece.
People have been tinkering with foiling cats long before I started sailing in '99 ... so this isn't incredibly new. I suppose in the absence of open distance races, the America's Cup has served as the motivating force in a more in-direct way.
I'm interested though, will this foiling thing stick or will it be a fad? It's expensive and requires a new skill set. The Hobie Trifoiler and Windrider Rave didn't do all that well...why is this different?
