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Hi, Rene! I emphatically disagree with you, Chris and Eric because the parameters of the existing classes favor the trimaran. The proposed classes are only for catamarans and they have the chance to spark the public imagination because of their potential association with the America's Cup. Many leadbelly classes have been started because of the Americas Cup and now it is finally our opportunity to take advantage of catamarans being part of the AC.
In a class where sail area , beam and length are specified their is an inate design advantage to the trimaran because extra beam can be used effectively on a tri where it can't be on a cat.(within the Mini 40 rules)
As a design example look at my D4Z-it was originally designed as part of the F48 class 15 years ago but when I started on the proto work a few months ago I didn't like the old bows so I added new ones which took the boat out of the F48 class. Since there aren't any F48's or Mini 40's around it didn't matter.
The boat is NOT designed to be an AC 62 or 72 lookalike-it is designed to be an effective catamaran foiler and to do that it MUST use a movable ballast system in winds over 6-8 knots. The "Trapeze Power Ballast System" doubles the righting moment of the boat.​Just the kind of power a foiler needs. In a appearance this thing will look more like a Flying Phantom but that's ok because performance is the key thing. If I did this within the F48 class or the Mini 40 class I would have been limited to .9sqm SA, where now I am using 1.2 times that(1825 sq.in). So, in my opinion it is not possible to design a modern, powered up catamaran foiler within the Mini 40 Class rules. Another thing: the "Trapeze Power Ballast System" overhangs the windward side about 17"(.43m) making the beam of the D4Z at maximum righting moment 65"( 1.65m) ! No way to use this system and the extra sail area it allows within the Mini 40 rule-just not possible.
On rc groups where I first suggested the AC62, a guy from Australia joined in and was building (coincidentally) a cat about 55" LOA and he's actually sailing now trying to get his boat to foil. So he and I agreed on the parameters of a sort of "subclass" called the AC 55RC, that would be like the full size AC 45's are to the AC 62's. And it would allow people with Mini 40 or F48 cats to modify them and be part of this prototype class. The idea of this "subclass" is to relatively inexpensively test foil and rig technology for the International AC 62RC class. Each of us plans on building a 62 down the line when the technology is worked out.
I invite anyone who reads this forum to modify a Mini 40 CAT to be part of the AC 55RC proto development class. The only rules are a length overall of 55"(1.4m) and that the boat must be a CAT-no trimarans. No other restrictions!
If we can work out the problems with a smaller foiling cat the 62 will eventually be a viable racing class and the 55 a viable MAX development class.
Please think about what I've written-I think it is a golden opportunity for RC multihull sailors to be part of something that has the potential to be spectacular!
