Dario's Lab

Moving Pics

Another video of Paradox starting to properly exploit new stable foiling setups.
Stability is heavily influenced by the relative lift contribution of rudder winglets and main foils.
We now set up the rudders to provide some upward lift when the boat is at neutral trim.
If driving force from the sail increases, causing the bow to dip, rudder lift decreases as the rudder winglet AoA approaches neutral.
If trimming moment should keep increasing (this would only happen if a gust an order of magnitude greater than the average wind speed is encountered), rudder winglet AoA would become negative, pulling the sterns down.
When the setup is correct, crew weight can be placed surprisingly far forward. This is more efficient as it puts more mass over the main foils, reducing the burden on the rudder winglets which are smaller and so have to work harder to support a given weight.
Even though speeds are significantly higher than in displacement sailing, the feeling of losing the bow ‘down the mine’ disappears completely.
If anything the instinct to shed power must be reprogrammed as the limit is much, much further away. Easing sheet in a panic just causes ride height to momentarily increase and then settle again.
We are now confident that this mode is significantly faster in a straight line at least in winds over 10 knots.
The next question that must be answered is whether it is faster around the course when tacking and jibing are considered…