Scooby,
You say too much drag as if it's actually something you need to be concerned with. It's so small it would never be a factor to worry about. You may want to just slam the board down so that it is somewhere close to the hull and concentrate on things like current, favored side of the course, downhaul, mast rotation, body position, traveler position, mast rake, diamond wire tension, spreader rake, favored side of the starting line, sheeting (as in how tight to sheet the main) rounding " A " mark and the transition to spinnaker land, and about 10 other things that far outweigh the minimal effect of that little bit of drag created by have 8" more of board in the water.
Tom
OK, do all of the above, but I also consider the plates. They are too big - we've had the discussion on here before - the plates that are right for a I18 / I20 with more sail and twice the mass on the wire, cannot be right for a single hander with less mass on the wire.
You / I can feel when I have too much plate down, the boat does not pick up in the gusts properly up wind, it sticks or tip's the bow in slightly before any increase in speed.
