The RS400 Rumours thread.

RS400 is 2m wide, any wider is a pain for towing.

If dagger boards were allowed you'd have to have one to be competitive, so that would probably eliminate the class from a lot of shallow water. We're talking about something fast enough to do damage grounding its board. Especially as the boat should be light. So I would support a pivoting foils rule. After all the true performance chaps will get a trapeze boat?

When was the last time a new class successfully started in this country without a manufacturer driving it?

So identical concept apart from different size sails, a trapeze and a choice of either fixed or related dimensions?

125 Suicide sounds like a marketing cockup in chinese motorbikes. Or a bad day at a level crossing.

Does it promise a significant performance edge over the RS400? If we haven't advanced significantly, we'd just as well stick with the RS400, unless it does the same for lighter people or something?

Don't mind me Mike, there's plenty of room for the ICON and a 400 beater.  The biggest challenge is positioning it so it doesn't look just like an ICON with a kite tagged on.  In fact, I have been advocating (and designing) such a boat for years, see this thread from 2006 and this design on boatdesign.net

I don't believe such a boat needs to be significantly faster than a 400, though that would be nice.  I believe a standard NS with a moderate kite would be 400 speed, and the ICON is a little bigger.  The biggest problem with the 400 and 200 IMO, is the weight and strength requirements of each.  I have owned a 200 and know that whilst it is the right size for my wife to crew, I am too big to helm - I sink the stern.  The 400 is great for my weight (and a fabulous boat), but requires more strength from the crew than my wife has.  The jib sheet loads are high and you need good abs.  The kite system is a hassle, with the wing wang and the single patch (has that changed).  What I would like is a boat that only requires the strength of the 200, but has 400 performance and weight carrying.  As someone pointed out earlier the 400 is the only hiking assy between the 200 (a low performance boat with basically a hoistable genoa) and the B14 (basically a twin trapeze boat with sit up practise).  That is a yawning gap...