When I first started looking at pictures of IOMs I decided in no way I would ever buy a TS-2, it just didn’t look like a boat. Boats should be shaped like fish, not some delta dagger looking like a swept wing fighter jet.
Well of course I bought a beautiful used TS-2 which though old, built circ 99 had been taken care of beautifully. A perfect hull with three brand new rigs, a Craig Smith A rig that is a work of art.
What a boat!!! I did e-mail the builder Craig Smith and he told me upwind in light air it is a flyer with its only weak point being downwind in light winds. Since I race in the light air of the LA area, light air performance is critical to me, and after 35 years of big boat one design racing I knew the choice between upwind and down wind performace for me favors upwind performance big time.
Well Smith was right, upwind in 5 knots or so in light air it goes higher and faster than anything else in our club. Now if I can only convince the wind god at Lake Hansen to increase the wind by two to three fold right after I turn at the weather mark so I can surf my fat assed baby to the finish line.