Mark,
[color:"red"] (I have repositioned the orginal bottom part of my past to the top. After *** the orginal top begins)
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Best part however is the contradiction that is enclosed in the Tornado class reasoning.
EITHER the NON-uniformness of alu mast is a problem BECAUSE it allows certain crews to perform better because their particular mast bending suits their crew weigth and style better. But this means that the very UNIFORM carbon masts will do very much the same thing (because the crews are not uniform!).
OR the UNIFORM-ness of the carbon mast DOES NOT favour a narrow range crew weight and sailing styles and by equal measure the crews currently running through scores of alu mast in search of the best one are on a WILD GOOSE CHASE and there simply is NO arms race that needs to be prevented by going carbon.
I'm really anxious to see how anybody is going to reason himself out of that one !
No matter how you turn it you'll end up with the same situation as before but now at a few thousant dollars additional costs.
Seems to me that the Tornado class fell victom to a decision that was either not well thought through OR that has totally different (and secret) reasons as a foundation.
Maybe they are trying to make the Tornado a true OD class under ISAF pressure ? You know how ISAF and the olympic committee get off on OD classes.
Will be very interesting to see where this thing leads to
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[color:"red"] Original top part of post [/color]
Mark,
At the Olympic level, well funded teams or consortia were beginning to spend huge sums developing alu masts that were not made available to the rest of the olympic fleet. The arms race in sticks and sails was going to get out of control and threatened to make the class unaffordable.
The sail design arms race is far more costly then any mast arms race if either one ever really existed outside the minds of sailors that aren't competitive even if they tried. Marstrom as a boat is bloody expensive as well. Is it trully expected that by going for the MORE expensive Marstrom carbon mast more teams are going to buy and sail a Tornado ? Let along campaigning one in any serious manner. We all know were the true cost of a campaign or to be found and that is not in the masts.
This is just weird logic !
I guess time will tell if one design carbon masts only work for a narrow crew weight.
Don't wait just look at the A-cats. The answer is already around.
And even if for some reason the same thing is not seen in the Tornado class with the carbon mast the choice for One-design carbon is still weird.
For the cost that Marstrom is asking (3200 Euro) you can buy a set of aluminium masts and take the one that suits you best. In F16 class alu mast section go for retail 900 Aus = 550 Euro's. Extrusion (+additional costs like anodising, packing etc) of alu tornado masts is certainly not more expensive.
If the Tornado class was smart about it then they would measure each mast for bend and mark the masts according to stiffness and have the crews buy the mast that they think will suit them best. This way the sailors can get their purchase first time right and at a fraction of the cost. With this data the sailmaker can make the optimal mainsail and we'll have achieved greater equality in racing between crews of different weight by having crews sail with a mast/sail combo that is optimal for them.
It is a setup I'm actually considering for the F16 class. It has the best of both worlds
The alu masts are still legal (I think).
Ohh, so when say bundock finds an alu mast that has a better bending for his crew weight and style of sailing than he will go with that one and shot the OD mast setup right out of the sky as others will immediately copy him.
Wouter
