The costs are looking like $2000 for a full share per person and 2 weeks of racing. You could do just a week if that works into your plan better and the costs reduce accordingly.
This covers food lodging and fees. Its does not cover an insatiable thirst for Beer!
The penalty is -3 seconds for every foot over J. and +6 seconds If I say I will only use one or the other. But If I want to use ether in a race I don't get the 6 sec bonus. Can't imagine ever using both. Once you have used a sprit you will never go back.
Rodney Johnstone Is advising us on the most competitive measurements to use. But suffice to say that the Asym will fallow my motto of Go Big or stay home. now if you see me out looking for a new mast next fall you know what happened.
And Yes the Asym will be a huge advantage for all distance races.
I have done a fair bit of distance racing and I am sick and tired of getting to the up wind mark or island to round Half an hour ahead of boats that owe me a ton of time only to have them run over me down wind and beat me by 8h over 35 miles! look at our results in Swiftsure this year. Any one have A drill so I can put some holes in Zulu and that flying tiger! So we always win the race to weather but then come around the mark and get slaughtered with our undersize kite made for the heavy air of the eastern seaboard. Reaching and broad running the Asym is the only way to go. I ask you if there is any respectable builder still using a Symmetrical spin? And if they are ask why? Are they trying to follow an archaic class rule?
Now for Beer can racing the Symmetrical is the proper thing as you're trying to run deep. But in point to point racing you're just heading to the next puff and trying to get around that next island and you can always find some wind that will bend your way.
Except at Swiftsure.
And I have sailed the Van Isle before. Be It on Oriole so that was a bit different doing 18 knots with a spinnaker the size of a baseball field. But yes the A sail is the only way to go.
