On Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:15:41 +0100, Ben newsam
gmail.com> wrote:

They can be. It's a high performance machine. I always found them easy
to sail, but you need to pay attention to what's going on around you.
Because it's an open design class (min weight, max length, beam and
sail area + no hydrofoils are the only rules), there are some dodgy
hulls around. There are also some dodgy sailors. In this photo the guy
was heading downwind on a broad reach (high speed) when the lee bow
got buried, maybe because of a sudden gust. The buried bow slows right
down, but the rest of the boat doesn't. It sort of trips over the bow.
If you're on the trapeze at the time, it acts like a slingshot. I've
seen guys 15' in the air and 30' from their boat.