1 - I stumbled across this racing machine whilst randomly walking about in the rain this afternoon - Aviva weighs about 8 tonnes, and has nearly 500 square metres of downwind sail area. Note the twin daggerboards (there's probably a canting keel hiding underneath), twin rudders, hard chine, and wide stern. Very nice.
2 - A bunch of these yachts are currently competing in the Barcelona World Race, the second placed yacht Hugo Boss (video) managed a 501nm run in 24 hours... nearly half of the competitors have had major breakages, including these guys (video) who just lost their mast.
