No conspiracy, really. Just liked the whole Skunk Works concept that build all that top secret military aircraft!

As for the daggerboard system. No will leave it plain-Jane 1. one less string across the deck 2. we leave the boards fully down al the time, except for beaching!

Leaving the boards down gives the boat more bite. The hull will fly earlier and you shake of the drag quicker so your boat speed goes up. Especially downwind, with the boards down I find you can control the whole match so much easier. THe modern F-16 has so many other controls to make your hi-speed life easier that the boards can almost be forgotten.

With the string system, if your moving along quickly there will be side load on the boards and you can't pull then up with the string anyway. Better not to have the string then!? Put it in by all means and try it out, If you don't like it, just take it off.

When you finally get around to sailing your Blade you will want to do anything to make the hull fly earlier. When that hull comes up the dynamics really take over and she will really climb to windward at a great rate of knots.

We just got the opportunity to 'test' Agent Orange against some of our Taipans. In light no hull flying winds, speed and angles are a match. As the Taipan crews slowly edge out to the wire, they hold a slight advantage. The Blade is full width F-16 in comparison so hull lift-off will be a bit later. But there is a big benefit to 'sitting in' longer on the Blade. Once the hull lifts the bow section really comes into play and the speed jumps up as the boat climbs to windward. It is as if the boat ahead just bears away! It was pretty amazing to see it happen even though it sounded like a story to me!

Thailand's not far away about an hour in a jet. If he's sailing, there are a couple of places with some good set ups and nice water.

cheers