I rode down to the event with former crew and amazing sailor David Osteen. As we were leaving a marina, he spotted an ama sandwiched up on the hard in between a dozen varied craft.
We got out for a closer look. It was my 46 performance tri design Pipe 3 (formerly Faamu Sami). It was the first time I have seen the boat.
Well Transom hung rudders seem to have taken over. I remember when such a “surface piercing foil” would have been Immediately dismissed as unacceptable. Looks like I have some catching up to do. pat Lemehaute ( hope I spelled that correctly ) seemed to Prefer the surface piercing kick up hobie style rudder as well from the photos I’ve seen of Sumo. at least Pipe 3 and Sumo aren’t transom draggers. Besides, I would Imagine the maintenance issues associated with cassette case wear and the inherent leakage are eliminated. Now “what If”: the board case were external, side slung, and mounted on a pivot then it’s angle of attack could be set to generate more lift on each tack….
Really got that one right!