V Twin

8 knots has always been the threshold below which there has been almost a Holy Grail of a challenge to get even windsurf boards actually planing. Kiteboards can do it, I've managed to plane to windward in 5 knots with a big kite and wide board. I would probably guess that foilers don't do much in less than 6 knots, so this thing was never likely to do anything much under 8 knots.

The point is for someone light and not particularly boat handling capable (no years of auto response at the tiller) without a crew, to manage some half decent sail area single handed and go fast , fast being faster than currently able in what is available on the market to me in any kind of breeze above 10 knots.

So I win if I achieve that, I lose if it could be demonstrated that I could sail something else round a given circuit faster at my current ability level and willingness to spend the rest of my waking moments practising, I've always been able to do that in light weather, every boat I've sailed I can make go well in light weather, this will be the first I can't do that with, but...

..And this is such a big bonus, I can do with it what I like, if I decide I want a bigger rig I can do it, if I want to move a cleat, there are no howls of derision and suggestion that the 'class won't like it and it'll be illegal'.

Getting back to it being sticky, that could have been designed out by having those hull sponsons rounded and for sure on a lake or inland it would be faster in light stuff, but, the potential for top end speed would have been less imv and I remain confident that once up and away it is going to fly having already once experienced that, albeit briefly.

And sailing it is just such a gas, it's so easy, something comes adrift, I wander up the nose to sort it, it's stable to do this even without the plate down, but then when it gets going, it is so edgy trying to keep it balanced on one hull from way up there in the air on those racks, I'm going to have to jack them up with 'suspension units' (rubber exhaust mounts) so the rack the other side doesn't engage.

My only disappointment is the kite, it's so er blue and I want a red one..

FTFY- of course if you sail at the location featured below, with it's legendary shoredump and extreme sailing conditions, which quite frankly, God him very self couldn't get his Mirror dinghy through unscathed... well, you might just need to build something appropriate yourself