Hi Dave,
Sailing up the East coats of Barbados on foils would have been fine. All it would have taken are legs to the foils about 8ft to 10ft tall.
This is the same problem that exists with the production foil boats today. The legs are too short to get the hulls up out of the waves in real water and the drag pulls the boat down off the foils, slows the boat down until it can't be foil born. The foil boats are similiar to sailboards: They go really fast in the French ditch but put them on real water with real chop and they really slow down. Biscayne Bay is one of the best "protected water" sailing areas in the world. One would think it would be covered with foil boats but it is not. Why not??? They can't get up. Some foilers have had power boats pull them up on their foils and them cut them lose to sail on their own and if the chop is 2ft to 3ft, they can't stay up on the foils. We need some long legs to those foils! Get the hulls up out of the waves and they will fly.