The front tyre I had on my class 5 originally was a slick with a very slight wavy groove on each side opf the tread The profile was rather square
The yacht never seemed to turn that well so I decided to grind the corners off
and make it into a true slick with a round profile This simple mod seems to have made a big difference to the turning I dont have a photo of the tyre in its original form only after the grinding You can just see the remains of the wavy groove in places

Hi Vic
I think the issue was the square shoulders I am sure the hook worm pattern is Ok
Every one here seems to favour absolute slicks though
The round profile seems to have a more consistant grip in the turns and the turns are smoother now
I had a day on the beach to myself yesterday and gave the turning a good testing
In the early days when the front end was quite light I sailed into the ocean more than a few times
I am thinking now it was more the tyre than the weight on the front
The only thing adjustable on the front end of my yacht is the number or type of
springs in the suspension
I am currently using two pieces of carbon sail batten per side which works well
The nut and grubscrew on the top you can see holds them in place and the larger nut on the side with the wire locking adjusts the damping of the suspension [sort of like a crude shock absorber]

The original design called for a rubber ball at the rear of the spar under the mast step but I couldnt seem to get it to work right so I dreamed up this arrangement
I havent seen it anywhere else I think it works well but the other guys seem to win the races