Sweet pics. Was that Beto's crossing cat? The one with the wing tents?

I enjoy watching evolution. That daggerboard is so thin and skinny - it's a complete deviation from the beginnings of F18 development. Early F18s (Nacras) used the high profile (skinny) I20 board profile but rumor had it that it made the boat really hard to handle on the start line when the water speed was low. F18 evolved fatter and fatter boards. Now this with the really high aspect ratio foil (it appears to be even more so than the early Nacra). Is it a step forward, or a step back? Perhaps it's something that you have to be REALLY good at boat handling to use on the start line - but I can see how it might have an upwind advantage.

The bow seems to be pretty thin. The reverse bow does sing a little like the Capricorn. It's hard to tell due to the color - but it doesn't seem to have as much down-low hull volume that the Capricorn has. The sterns look fat and wide and has the chine - Infusion-esque. It perhaps has more rocker than both the Capricorn and the Infusion - sort of like the older Nacra F18. It's a good looking boat.

Not that I'm in the market for an F18 at the moment - but I am disappointed that it appears that the Tiger trampoline attachment method will be carrying over to this boat. The Tiger tramps always felt so mushy because they aren't laced to any hard points on the sides. That, or the Tigers I've sailed on weren't tightened properly.

Jake: the tiger you sailed was probably not set up properly, if you tighten it with the mainsheet it is usually quite stiff.

As you can see it is far from a finished product, from what i heard there will indeed be a different tramp setup (dont know the exact details yet).

Surley those dagger boards will break.

Will be interesting to see finished product.

Someone out there will get a photo of the Test boats. They are not that easy to hide.

no reason for the foils to break if properly built. They do however look like a mistake to be. They would be fast on the computer and in two boat testing with the world's best on board. But in the hands of Joe Weekend, I see a lot of bad starts and poor tacks.

Tony,

was there any published data on how huch the FX1 carbon tips the scales at?

I think it looks fantastic. Those foils look dangerous. Can't wait to see it on the water. I wonder if all boats leaving the factory will have that high gloss finish on them.

Can someone please explain why the the very high aspect foils make it harder to control at lower speeds?

A short wide foil will resist side force at lower speed. Imagine an airplane with a big fat stubby wing...like this:



It flies really well at low speeds - the fat wide wing generates a lot of lift without much air flowing over it. However, it has a lot of drag if you try to make it fly faster.

Now picture a very long narrow wing....like this:



Slope soarers / gliders are developed to be highly efficient but have to be at pretty good speeds to develop lift (compared to the lazy bee pictured above).

This translates into this: a short fat foil will provide the side force needed to control the boat off the start line - when it's moving very slowly in the water. A long narrow foil will stall and not generate much lift until it achieves a certain amount of flow over it's surface. This will make a long narrow foil very sensitive at low speeds and susceptible to stall.

Nice looking hulls, not sure about that spray chine though...wonder if they'll get filled in after market?

Excellent Pictures. I'm very envious that you were able to go.

Nice pictures tony!

Where's the rest of it?

Rear beam looks like it might be a bit of a wave slapper?

Shouldn't this conversation be over on the "Test"?

The bow looks like it is raked back more on the FXone, hard too tell any other differences in hull shape. The color really makes things look different. I wonder if the production models, both the F18, and the Carbon FXone will be produced in white, or this color.

Both look really nice!

I wonder if the boards are actually the same size as the current boards, but the holes just look smaller because of the color, and the larger volume hull.

Keep scrolling through, there is a photo of a board.

Holy hell! I was just looking at the hole in the hull. Yeah, that baby is tiny. Just a guess-timate, but 2 inches less than the Tiger board?

Where there any rudders? Your picture No. 37 indicates those will have surface under the hull. Yee...

This is all interesting but I'm wondering if they have not gone to far with the foils. No obvious "want-this-feel, but that's me and I'm always a late adaptor.

The conclusion is correct in general, however not only aspect ratio but also the area itself is important (a high aspect ratio foil would work, if it is only big enough). It is hard to judge the controlabilty without knowing area and span.

But even more important: I have my doubts that it will bring any hydrodynamic advantage upwind. The reduced induced drag of the increased span, might be easily overcome by the increased friction drag due to reduced Reynoldsnumber. If the area is too small, there will be also a risk of cavitation at high speeds.

Would be interesting if the production boat will have more conventional daggerboards or if they learn it the hard way.

Cheers,

Klaus

I just realized that color looks like Duratec surfacing primer. Did they bring out their plugs for the show?

those boards would look even nicer if there were slanted slightly forward of center along the lengthwise midline. Kind of like a forward-swept wing.

I said LOOK nicer, because that would probably be inherently unstable (and collect seagrass like nobody's business!)