The thrust of development in the ac class has been to develop the many controls it takes to control the large rig in these boats. the loads induced on this rig are larger then an other class besides maybe the J boat. for this reson adding multiple controls was always a primary.

The drawback to all these controls is the complexity of sailing the boat. You need to be on top of it at all times. It is very easy to have a lever pushed the wrong way. The other draw back is the expence. Adding channels to a boat is not just the cost of a servo. You need to add into that the radio and all the blocks that may be required.

The bottom line is that the price of these boats was get out of the range that most people are willing to spend. for instance, the DMYC adopted the Victoria as a introductory boat for the club. Two years later we have 38 in the club and another 22 in the hands of big boat sailors at the local Yacht Clubs. Why did this class take off and we have only increased the AC fleet by one in the last 5 years. The Victoria hit a price point that people were willing to pay. With this in mind we started to turn our focus to an introductory AC boat.

So, with the same team that had been developing multi-channel boats we start work with a new focus. We needed a boat that was inexpensive for people to get into the class but yet it still needed to be competitive. The following was a list of some of the requirements we came up with:

• Keep cost to a minimum
• Two channel operation
• Maintain a mast with a luff grove
• Competitive in winds up to 15 knots

For years the DN class added carbon fiber to aluminum mast sections to add stiffness. This was the starting point for a new mast for our two-channel boat. We could have gone out and bought a carbon section but we wanted to keep the luff grove in the mast. This makes the boat easy to transport and allows you to change mainsails without changing rigs. The only Aluminum section we had was one from Wick Smith. Years ago he bought an extrusion die and we have use that section for our AC boats for years know. The problem is that it is just not stiff enough for a two-channel application. It is also much 3/8 of an inch smaller for/aft then what the rule allows.

It was decided that we would start with the Aluminum section. When epoxying anything to Aluminum it is necessary to sand and acid etch the Aluminum. Balsa was added to the nose of the mast and sanded to shape to bring the section to the max 1" for/aft size. Next uni-directional carbon fiber was vacuum bagged around the mast. This gave us a mast that was 4 to 5 times stiffer then the standard aluminum section. Next the shrouds were redesigned for added for/aft control.

The standard shroud setup for a multi-channel boat is two sets of spreaders with a diamond stay at the partners. PEKABE rigging screws were used to set shroud tension. In the interest of saving money we cut the spreaders down to one and used a Fisher turnbuckle for the lowers. This not only reduced cost but also allowed us to tie the lower shrouds into a new Jackstay design. The old Diamond stay was replaced with a Jackstay or "Jumper" to help stiffen the top of the mast. The spreader for the Jumper was set at the partners but was only ¼ inch forward of the mast. Small Kwik Links were added for adjusting the Jumper wire that terminated at the main spreader. With the lowers set 1 ½ inches aft of the mast and looking at the rig from a side view, the lowers and the jumper are almost in line with each other giving the rig added for/aft stiffness. The lowers lead aft act like check stays on a big boat and can be adjusted for wind strength.

The end result was a two-channel boat with a rig that can handle the high wind that we get here in Detroit. The headstay was stable enough to keep the boat tracking up wind. The skipper of the new boat was delighted with the performance. His results in the Nationals were outstanding, finishing Third in a class he had never sailed in before. Since the end of the Nationals and the success of the new boat three new two-channel boats have been ordered. This is the largest increase in skippers in the last six years. Giving new owners value for there money is what this project is all about. We forgot that over the past years and the class suffered. We hope that this new boat will be successful and our numbers will keep increasing.