I've been asked to post this. Its the latest Acat sail from Ullman Italy. Here what Pablo, Ullman Italy has to say about the sail:

"Both sails are cross-cut construction out of two different materials.
Charlie sail is Kevlar made, while Mitch's is in Pentex. They are both ultrasonic glued with all the joints matching the battens. This gives an extremely good smoothness through the sail."

the latest news is that Charlie is sailing a Glaser sail in Florida. 90 Boats in Islandora, racing starts in 2 hours.

Here's my sail for comparison. Its Peter Cogan's latest design. The black lines are carbon fiber and the battens are carbon.

Bill

Cross-cut sails started showing up two or three F18 Worlds ago, but it seems like the radial-cut sails still predominate. I haven't heard much about cross-cut designs lately - please keep us posted, Bill.

Thanks for yr postings Bill.
Yr Cogan main is very beautiful and does not need even windows. But now I am curious to know which cloth was choosen.

Can you confirm that Charlie is using a Glaser sail?
I cannot believe that a sailmaker is willing to give such an exposure to one of his main competitors

Do you have any pic of the latest Glaser design and of the "radical" new design of Randy Smyth?

Let's hope that the guys sailing at Islamorada are willing to allow us to have a look at the latest developments with regard to A cats

My Cogan main has a nice big window. I dont know what cloth he used, but I can check with him.

Maybe Charlie was just testing out the competition, I dont know. The real action doesnt start until Monday, so it will be interesting to see if he changes back.

I dont have any info on Randy's sail.

Bill

The thing about the cross cuts is that they are easier to build, and have a theorethical "smoother" surface. In the beginning the cloth was intended to bring down prices, but I can't see that happening yet. I can attest to the building part, but I dont know about the surface. They sure do look nice..

I suppose Charlie want the best and instead of spending a year or five developing a sail he buys the best. Makes sense, particularly for a sailmaker.
What I find most interesting is that we still dont have a "best practice" for battens on square tops.

The A-cat worlds will be really interesting. I sure hope for lots of stories and pics from that event! Wings, new sails, new platforms, old heroes, old warhorses, world champs from other classes.. It's got all the right ingredients.
Are you going Bill? Can't see you on the list of participants.

Randy's sail has the top of the sail sloping up and back from the head, is boomless and also has a mini sweeper. Jays new mains also sweep up at the head but not nearly as much. I think Randy called it the wing tip main. In 2 boat testing with Ian earlier this week, the sail looked pretty good.
RG

RG,

Do you have photos yet, if so could you email them to me?

Tom

I was testing F17s this past weekend in Choctawhatchee Bay and saw the 2 LR2s sailing. Randy's sail looks very nice. He even lined up to leeward with us for a 3 minute upwind speed session while Ian was on shore making a change to his rig.

Bob <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Will send some as soon as I get them, tonight I hope
RG

Results are up for the pre regatta

http://www.acatworlds.com/res/regatta.html

Please post here the phots of the boomless new Randy Smyth's main
It would be great also to be able to have a look at the latest Glaser design

also check out this thread for updates.

http://www.sailinganarchy.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=63206

Couple of decent Tornado sailors have just come first and second in the lead up event to the Worlds. Glen Ashby, current Australian Tornado rep and Scott Anderson Tornado Bronze Los Angeles Olympics for Australia 1984. Pity they won't be able to do this in the future after cats have been eliminated from the Olympics

John Dowling
Geltek Flyer 11 AUS 917
Stingray 589