I will comment on possible F16HP's, that means that none of the comments here are comments on the T4.9. Once again everything is in the balance and a well balance boat (like the T4.9) will perform better than a unbalanced boat with all the new gadgets.
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<br>I agree with Kirt. And here are my additions :
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<br>-1- maximum Beam, I expect this to be an advantage when you sail with a very light crew. This crew doesn;t have any problems flying hull in light air and will definately receive a mild ! boost in performance in the heavy air. Something in the order of 2 % increase in UPWIND speed when going from 2,35 to 2,5 mtr. Other courses won't get this benefit so a allout inprovement of say 1% around a closed race course is realistic. It is however enough to be 1st instead of 5 th.
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<br>The Unbalanced approach ? Going wide with a heavy crew, You get burned twice. During wildthinging and because you can only double trap at extreme windspeeds. A no go !
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<br>-2- Mast height. It strongly corrilated to overall boat width. These two can't be uncoupled. Same story as with boat width. Only reall advantages I can see are that a higher mast will have more sailarea high above the ground where there is hardly any airflow (wind) in light conditions. Wind strongly increases with height than. So a squaretop with a reasonable high mast will do better in lighter conditions. The square top will help in controlling the baot in the heavy air but mast heigh won't. As Kirt said another trade off. You could however raise the boom somewhat by having a the same sail on a slighly higher mast. No sailarea hit and more sailare up high in light winds and more tramp room for fast boat handling like tacks. Sadly this does require more righting moment in heavier airs so this setup will probably be used by the heavier crews in the F16HP (or USA crews where light winds are predominant apparently). The light crews will have to find another optimum. Ofcourse this is allowed under formula rule and also one of the formula greatest benefits. These thing will help to level the playing field over a bigger range of crew weights.
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<br>Again : it is in the balance.
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<br>-3- I agree with kirt here completely although I wish to make a comment on the selftacking jib/ sheeted of the forebeam. The tornado setup lengthens the jibluff by going done all the way to the genaker boom which is fitted really low. This way they have been able to reposition the area that was in overlap to the foot. This could be enough to keep the total sailarea constant and if not than maybe moving the bridle wires foreward by an 0,1 mtr. (4 inches) will add about 0,25 sq.mtr. (2,7 sq. ft). You will miss overlap that is true but I also found that all formula boats point higher and are faster upwind than all the older non-genaker overlapped sloop designs. Than again without the genakers they loose on downwind legs and reaches.
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<br>Loose mesh trampoline will be a benefit but this can be done on all cats designs except very restrictive one-designs like Hobie 16.
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<br>Other benefits : Mostly rearranging rigging to work around the genaker bag, hoist the mast to top of mast instead of 2/3 inches below the top.
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<br>Not really performance boosters just things to improve feel of sailing. Maybe a little bit of manouvrebility.
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<br>-4- already dealed with
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<br>-5- See point -2-. Higher masts will need to lighter per meter length and even lighter in absolute sense in order not to promote hobie horsing. There is an engineering challenge for you.
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<br>-6- see point -3-
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<br>-7- I recall Jim Boyer say that it improved steering but not really speed.
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<br>And the best improves I keep secret ! Just joking ofcourse.
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<br>Wouter
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<br>Prindle 16 (yellow canari, just a nickname)
<br>Prindle 18 genaker (no name)
<br>Constructing Taipan 4,9 based F16HP sailnr. 243
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