Whats New?

North sail won even though 90% + used KAs. So we now have a viable alternative race sail.

Mach2 stayed in one piece, except for a wing tramp. It goes fast in Simon's hands and survived a few test sails from AMAC so must be strong. I see it as a refinement of the Bladerider rather than a revolution. It has styling changes at each end, new foil sections, different wand linkages and is built very well, it looks very neat with no painted patches, all clear carbon. There are some subtle but important details, the foil flap has a gap closing overlap like model gliders use, not unlike my experiment last year. The main foil strut is enlarged slightly at the boat and foil ends to increase strength at critical zones. (done that too) The wand linkages and tensioning system is hiden in the foredeck. There are some neat designs in the wing tube connections to the hull and each other.
All nice stuff.

Meanwhile the new Bladeriders had some issues with the new manufacturer, some soft resin, some joint failures and lots of patches and paint before and during the regatta. Nathan had none of this as he sailed an old X8. Be sure that they will get this sorted before they let too many boats out of the shop. They will have learned a lot from the problems with the firts 50 X8s two years ago. About half the fleet were X8s who all survived in good condition save a couple of accidents.

CST high mod masts were popular up front. There are several stiffnesses now and the stiffer seemed to be best. Brownie had a Southern Spars small dia high mod mast to compete with the CST and the Mach2 has a McConaughy version too.

Dave had the gadgets, adjustments to cable length, wand bungee, wand rotation limits and he tilted the whole gantry rather than the ASTEVO tiller tilt per Bladerider etc. He has a different rudder foil too which I am sworn to be silent about. All too complex for us to actually know when and what he adjusts on the move, but he has an excellent understanding and makes it all work.
I learnt enough by mid week to make some wand adjustments and greatly improve my light wind flying. It all comes slowly.

Luka had an adjustable length wand. But it did not last to the regatta end. Good idea though, might try one.