> Didn't matter, as they had a wing instead of a sail -> muuuuch quicker
I don't think the days of sails are quite over yet! And two races are hardly a fair test. A wing is better under some narrow circumstances but at low reynolds numbers and where the requirements of the boat change, a thin foil such as a sail is far more flexible. Since these boats were multi-hulls designed for a very very narrow wind range and could also guarantee a flat or nearly flat sea, a wing was a reasonable bet. But when the wind strength varies and the sea state varies and the boat is a monohull, then it's unlikely that you can get a wing to work as well as a thin membrane. Unless your wing is a multi-section construction with elements functioning like leading edge slats and slotted flaps, you won't be able to power up the rig to cope with chop etc. The sea state in Valencia was almost glassy. And if the wind gets up (when current AC boats stop racing because they are all blouses) then you get into the ffamous ffrench scenario where your wing mast/sail multi heads off over the horizon never to be seen again, while the boat with the flexible sail just furls it or flakes it and goes home. Wings have always done well on multi-hulls for inshore racing, but are unlikely to ever perform as well as 2D foils from flexible membrane do on a slower monohull in varying conditions such as offshore racing. D _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
