uniform but rather have the maximum deflectionmuch higher up in the mast to help produce theeliptical shaping.at the top. These rigs open and close automatically in response to increased windloading (gusts) and depower downwards from thetop. The spars are flexible enough that the Cun- ningham tension, acting like a bow string be-tween gooseneck and mast tip, is sufficient tobend the mast WITHOUT main sheet tension and to thus completely free the leech. The lightersailors pulls hard on the Cunningham in heavyair; the heavier sailors pulls less, or perhaps not at all, if they can handle the power.

The CII Rig

What is described above is the new rig for the Byte. The mast is a carbon/glass hybrid with more carbon than glass in the lower and verymuch the reverse in the top as an all-carbon topwould be far too stiff in a laminate that could withstand abuse. The weight of the mast, trackedand with all fittings, is under 4.5 kgs and has adeflection curve considerably different to the standard of today’s unstayed mast and this canbe seen in the top middle pictures at left. Thefemale athletes sailing the Byte and the Europe are both the same weight - 69 kgs. Winds in thetop photo are 5 kts and, in the lower, 8+ knots Light air The sail area of the CII sail is approximately thesame as the Europe but the Byte boom is higher off the water and the centre of effort of the sail isagain higher because of the eliptical roach. Forthis reason, it is not surprising that the CII’s light air performance is extraordinary. In 5 knots, theCII is approximately 4 to 5 boat lengths perminute faster than the standard Byte. While the CII is still faster, the two rigs are closer in performance with the exception that a lighterweight sailor is able to compete far more effec- tively in the CII. Heavy air Moderate air The performance difference becomes very pro-nounced and the boat can be sailed by crews thatwere previously uncompetitive in the standard rig. The boat has become a sparkling performer offthe wind with the reaching and downwind per-formance gains fairly well matching the upwindresults with the exception that, even in the mid range, the CII remains markedly faster than thestandard rig. A welcome plus has been that, withthe inertia of the rig increased due to the height of the sail plan, the rate of roll is much slower givingthe sailor more time to check an unwanted rolll toweather - quite common in this genre of boat! Off the wind