Early rating rules emphasized a yacht's sail area and waterline length.
The design makes the catamarans extremely lightweight, but still able to carry a large sail area.
"We have too much sail area and the boat will be better balanced then," said Fossett.
There are four classes of boats, handicapped according to length, beam, draft, displacement, sail area, type of rig.
"The larger pinisi do not have sufficient sail area for good performance under sail if you're using timbers for masts".
However, Russian officials said that apparent damage to the sail area and possible flooding of the bridge and the compartment under the sail area may have made access to the escape module impossible.
Governing is automatic and overspeeding is avoided by turning the wheel off the wind direction, thus reducing the effective sail area while keeping the speed constant.
All boats in a one-design class are built to the same specifications in length, beam, sail area, and other elements.
A 12-meter boat is so named because its sail area, length and waterline correspond, through a variety of measurements, to a 12-meter formula.
Such rules are based on measurement formulas that take into account a yacht's length, beam, displacement, sail area, and other design factors that affect its potential speed.
Under the Cup measurement rules, the Hula allows for a slight increase in sail area, which Team New Zealand hopes will make up for the extra drag.
