As with so many things at the university it disappeared into that big black hole.
They did put a PHD student on the idea to see if he could develop it into a viable assignment. He contacted my once, I gave him a very good head start on nearly everything and then he disappeared of the face of the world. I dare say that he did the motions in order to not upset the professor who gave him the assignment but other then that deep sixed it.
May be contact me in 6 months or so and see if I'm still tickled by it ? Till then I have my hands full in getting the final report on my other research accepted.
Wouter
No worries.
But for latest foil development, here are the pics of the latest generation of foils.
http://jamesgbr.blogspot.com/2009/07/faster-craft.html Not sailed in anger as of yet, but a number of boats at the worlds will have them.
Difference from the M20 foils is that they have a flap that can be used to adjust height and reaction to wind/waves. The M20 foils have no such adjustability. They lift the boat once it hits a certain speed, but if you go too high then you run into the problems of ventilation. As soon as you get air bubbles across the surface of the foils they just stop working (like turbulence in a plane from air pockets).
