During the 1995 defence of the AC I was spending a lot of time with the sail designer of Prada. He is a friend and was helping with a main for an old little Americas Cup boat from the late fifties I had. (Australian, Attunga)
In reseacing the possible shapes I noticed cats were starting to go square. I asked him if it was a good idea and what about a square top for Prada. He laughed it off and said there was too much engineering.
I also asked about rotating masts..never was his reply.
He had been out with Chris Dixon only days before who was running an Olympic Tornado campaign at the time and was stunnned by the power of rotation but...
The fact is that beach cats have led the way in many performance arenas re monos.... they have always had a "thing' about us and that has cost them.
At this point I must note how long it took cats to truely adopt gennies.
I note a couple of the big monos are now indulging in rotation.. what next, two hulls : )
sailing at 15 knots and you can put your coffee down anywhere.