Conrad-
<br>I'm certainly not Jim or Greg, but perhaps I can start some dialog here. I certainly do NOT mean to imply there is anything "wrong" with the current Taipan 4.9 by making any of these suggestions AND I would remind anyone that most (all?) of these changes would create a boat that you could not race one-design as a Taipan 4.9 or refer to as a "Taipan" (without AHPC's blessing).
<br>Let me address your points-
<br>1)beam- Obviously increasing beam would increase righting moment which would be beneficial in higher winds upwind and reaching; downwind isn't so clear to me since the ability to "fly" a hull downwind pays off big and increasing beam here may actually "hurt" some. Other disadvantages- increased rig stresses, increased weight, increased "loading" of the bows in gusts.
<br>2) mast height- Again, pros and cons- Pros- could use higher aspect sail plan, higher gennaker luff. Cons- more weight, would have to reduce mainsail area, more "hobby-horsing". (See Mark's comments re the BIM 16 vs T 4.9)
<br>3) etc.- Obviously could get boat right at minimum allowed weight (easy) and only pluses (unless weaken by so doing); could use higher/different aspect ratio boards/rudders- (pros and cons again!), "looser mesh" tramp (less weight and windage), adjustable diamond tension (pros and cons again), carbon fiber beam (s)- (less weight, stiffer, but much more expensive and easier to damage catastrophically), curved traveller (ala the "A") - better/easier mainsail adjustment but increased cost/complexity/reduced tramp space, front jib "foil"- stiffen boat, drop jib tack but weight and windage, self tacking jib- easier on crew esp. off-wind but would be smaller, carbon mast- lighter, potentially more "adjustable" but more expensive and sail development necessary to match, relocation of daggerboards- could improve downwind speed w/ gennaker theoretically but you would have to adjust size of boards and rudders as well as sails to keep everything balanced so would end up very expensive (IMO).
<br>4)Will greater beam improve boat speed?- See above- only in certain conditions, in others may hinder (Right now in fairly light air I can fly a hull on my Taipan when no other boats - exept "A" cats- can and that's abig advantage!).
<br>5) Will a higher aspect main sail be better? Rule covers this in that the "rated" area includes this so the actual sail area would drop (again see Mark's comments BIM 16 vs Taipan).
<br>6)Would the jib being sheeted to the front beam and tacked off the spinnaker pole like the Tornado setup be an improvement? - It would improve tramp "room" and clutter and tacking/gybing speed (if self-tacking) but area would have to drop and lack of overlap could be less efficient in certain conditions, although presence of gennaker would negate some IMO.
<br>7)Would having the hulls cambered help? - From experience on the "A"'s and 5.7's it really only "helps" much in conditions where you can fly a hull and the main improvement may be related more to steerage improvement when "Wild" than anything else.
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<br>Okay, lets have the next brave soul give some input!
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<br>Kirt
<br>Taipan 4.9 #159 "My Tai"<br><br>Kirt Simmons
<br>Taipan #159, "A" cat US 48