A-Class: Boomless Decksweeper Main

Photo: Bill Vining |  A-Cats are the quintessential development Cat Class, with the fleet Worldwide going crazy for the new shaped booms to adopt Mischa’s decksweeper sail from Punta Ala, others just decided to go for a boomless main with same planshape. Bailey White is currently testing a protoype and he reports added flight stability using this new sail.

In recreational cats boomless mainsails are quite practical, the only issue is that you lose control on the foot draft, which can be compensated with good batten position and cloth reinforcement/placement.

In Australia they are also testing this type of sail without boom , and I have direct reports on no performance loss sailing without  the windsurf type boom. Waiting for pics to publish.

In the end If this conf can work efficiently in the course race, it will be great news for sailors as costs can be cut down from Misch’as/ Melvin / Glaser original concept  and the A-Class rig will become even more simpler and practical. –

On other A-Class news, ISAF has approved Championship Rules change regarding GPS/Radio/Smartphones : https://www.a-cat.org/?q=node/644