...people that make radical modifications to their boats are few, most guys racing A cats have factory boats. The number of home built competitive A's is low compared to the whole that races. So you've got mostly guys buying boats instead of building them, and the guy that just bought a new A2 doesnt have the desiire, skills,tools, etc to go hacking up a new A2 or XJ.
You might see Steve Clark experimenting with something, he's the one guy I would expect to show up right away with something new. But I've spoken to him about foils on cats and when we talked about it last year, he wasnt convinced. Its too bad he doesnt participate here.
I don't think inovating is necessary. Foiled multihulls already exist and all the A Class need to do is copy what already works. One example: the C Class Cogito had a set of L shaped rudders and would have used them in the right conditions - but in the end they were fast enough without them. T or L rudders may provide lift up and down. Lift up helps planing and lift down helps avoid pitchpoling.
As for the boards, IMHO Bruce foils (canted boards) would be the natural choice in a boat that already has two daggerboards. Maybe this is why the rule's main concern was to limit them by means of the way beam is measured, following the rationale that ruling out canted boards would be enough to prevent the use of foils (at all). It may work for canted foils, but L foils remain as an option.
