Hi All

The Taipan Catamaran Association of Australian, last year proposed a new mainsail design to be voted on, the vote had been extended to the 1st of March 2007, requiring a 55% majority of vote recieved to pass the proposal.

A short note from Greg Goodall reads;

Reasons for the proposed change.
1. The current sail plan now looks dated against the latest boat designs. The new sail addresses this problem.
2. The larger head gives all round better performance.
3. It makes the Wild Thing a real possibility for the cat rigged boats. This gives a further dimension to boat performance and boat handling for cat rigged sailors. It also expands the range the Wild Thing can used on the sloop rigged boats.
4. In mixed fleet racing it will keep the Taipan 4.9 at the front of the fleet for to come.

Reasons against the proposed change.
1. The Taipan 4.9 is a one design class boat and the racing within the class only requires that all the boats fit the class restriction.
2. Changes to one design classes are rarely painless. Changing the mainsail may have a negative effect on the numbers attending National and States Titles while any changes are implemented.

Regards,
Greg Goodall

The new sail would not be formally available for championship racing until the Nationals 2009, this would ensure that those with newer sails would still get reasonable usage from their sails.

Development of the new sail designs would be undertaken during this grandfather period.

The result of the ballot will be published as soon as practical after the 1st March 2007.

I have spoken to a few friends which I also spoke to earlier on when the proposal was first introduced. It would seem the proposal, has a lot more support now than then, I think mainly because there had been more time to consider the pros and cons of the changes, people have had the opportunity to try the sail. I have been listening to all the information I can extract from people inside and outside of the class.

Anyway, I'm about to turn all this information into a vote, and let you know what happens.

Regards