If you sail in areas with lots of shallows, what you need is either a boardless design like what you sailed, or a design with centerboards that kick up, like the Tornado.
There is a 3rd alternative. Relatively short daggers. Nacra Inter-18 and some Hobie cats like the FX-one as well had daggers that protruded over 3 feet under the keel (1 mtr). Taipans daggerboards for example only protrude 1 foot and 8 inches under the keel line. Believe me anybody sailing a fast catamaran in less then 2 feet of water is just dumb. This is so shallow that the bow may easily touch bottom after a gust pushed the bows down.
Actually, I think the Taipan daggers are a little suboptimal by todays standards, but they do have some advantages to them. And this is one of them. Often I completely push my luff board all the way down quickly after leaving the beach (if their is sufficient wind to lift a hull) and I then power-through the surf at speed. All I-20's and such at my club have slightly more difficulty getting out as their daggers are so much longer. Also I never worry about shallows on the race course or anker (bouy) chains, my daggers just don't go deep enough to hang on them. And they do alright in comparison. I believe some more performance can be tweaked out of them (slightly longer and narrower) but for now it is acceptable enough.
Wouter
