All in good fun, boys.
We currently see the F16 and now F14 class using foil rudders. No offense but these 2 classes are far from professional classes. Why have we not seen other more professional classes trial these. May be most of these other classes have something in their class rules forbidding this ????????
The answer to that is partially yes. Alot of classes do have rules like the overall width rule that prevent T-foils from being used. Other reasons are that builders don't want the additional hassle, so don't expect Hobie or Nacra to develop and introduce stuff like this into the cat scene. Other reasons may well be pure scientific in nature. As I wrote in an earlier post; it can be quite possible that longer boats do not get the same boost from fitting T-foils then the shorter boats like the 16's and 14's. It was tried in the A-cat class and discarted. However the length to width ratio of the A's is far higher then the other classes. The A's are just alot longer and also alot smaller then the other boats. And of course they have less weight in that carbon mast. All factors that limit the possitive effect that T-foils can have.
I have personally sailed with T-foils a couple of times and I must say they truly make the platform very stable. I own a boat without T-foils and I do feel a significant difference despite both being F16's. I dare not quote an performance increase % but I'm convinced that the T-foils can't be just waved away. I wouldn't be surprised if well designed T-foils turned out to be an advantage that just a score of sailors overlooked for such a long time.
Afterall how long did it take before the bulk of (professional) sailors and classes started using wingmasts ?
In this line of thinking I have no special regard for professional classes. More often then not they are more conservative then non-professional classes. Most development is done in small and tinker oriented environments.
Wouter
