I remember watching those videos when it happened .... I wonder if all that volumn up forward in the bows just gives the waves more to work on ...

Question: When I was taught how to launch through a surfbreak on a H16 the oldtimers taught me to "power" the boat up by sheeting in the sails while holding the boat in calf deep water until you could not hold her anymore ... then the crew jumps onto the boat and takes off. Kind of like drag-racing using a "Linelock". It was explained to me that the sailplan can produce much more power then the crew can trying to push the boat through the surf and once the water is approximently thigh/waist deep when the crew tries to get on the boat the friction/drag from the water on the crew's bodies will use up most of the energy the boat has at that moment.

So what I'm asking using 3-4 people do you think that if you hold the boat in place in calf deep water, could you "power up" the boat while timing the waves ... at the proper moment the crew jumps on ... the "boat holders" then release the boat w/ a short push, allowing it time to power up even more and accelerate before hitting the first oncoming wave???

Now I've never sailed an Inter20 through a surf break so I do not know how the Inter20 responds in the surf ... I'm just asking why your technic is so different from what I was taught.

Also do you think a "bungie hold-down system" for the rudders would help matters by keeping the rudder blades as deep as possible in the water ... Yes, they will drag on the sandy bottom but the helm would not have to keep trying to keep them in the water and could instead looking forward concentrate on power, speed, and timing the oncoming waves.

Just trying to learn something here ...

HarryMurphey