Macca,

Sorry mate but I gotta disagree with this...there is not a watertight seal at the slot opening...water is going to enter the case to the exact same level with ot without fairing the forward section.

Both the slot strips & fairing help to keep water pressure from forcing water up the slot while the boat is moving...is that what you mean?

I still maintain the fairing cleans up flow at the front section of the slot where boards sit. The strips do a reasonable job, but a well done fairing is much better. Whether fairings help improve boat speed to a noticable difference has yet to be proven (to me anyway <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />).

I still like to raise the boards in light conditions...this does seem give us an extra .5 to 1 knot through the water (GPS verified). This technique is no longer an option when you've faired...cause when boards are up you end up with a wide/slow opening at the front of the slot.


Here is the faired slot pic from the Yahoo Tornado forum: