Hey All,

Eric Poulsen and I have been corresponding with regards to his observation that the Taipan F16 seems to lift and stabilize when the Asymm. kite is set.My inability to drive the boat faster downwind proportionally to wind velocity increase , is my one frustration w/ cats when compared to my
skiff experiences...

I've revived this old thread because our rules allow latitude for innovation and I'm hoping one of you smart sailors wouldn't mind passing along your perfect solution to the diving kite conundrum ...

Here's what I think is so exciting about this research (attached)for catamaran sailors : the Cherub is a skiff who's rig (main and jib), in conjunction w/ a highly refined, planning hull , created significant lift - the cool thing is , the lift of rig and hull together still result in a net downward force as soon as the asymmetrical kite is factored in to the equation ! Our boats always sail in the displacement mode ( I'm told the 18ht has a planning hull...), and have really narrow hulls up front w/ limited bouncy ; betcha the downward force of the kite is amplified many times compared to the Cherub skiff...! This is, I suspect, why the smart designers at Stealth are willing to take a drag hit to windward (pure conjecture on my part), w/ there fixed foil rudders because they can be driven w/ impunity downhill and why the Blade has that midhull bulge (appears to sail w/ bows out of the water w/ the kite set).

The exciting part ? We've identified the problem ( the asymm. kite drives the bows down as the wind velocity increases placing limits on how fast the boats cn be sailed). So, thats the problem- who's got a solution ( No, I don't want a Cherub).