wand

i did a couple of maths and realised that some of my light-air trouble is possibly stemming from my technique, rather than from setup problems. (would be great if it turns out this is the case.)

Basically when i sit at the back of the boat and try and launch, i can get up to about 7 degrees angle of attack on the centreboard foil as the bow lifts up, and my boat's fat ass drags in the water. lifting off like this the wand starts moving the flap up, as the front of the boat starts to clear of the surface. in this configuration, with the flap down say 5 degrees out of 20, the centreboard Cl is 1.57 and Cd is 0.0193
If on the other hand i was to sit really far forward and keep the nose buried, i could keep the flap at say 15 degrees down, at the same stage of takeoff. in this configuration the centreboard angle of attack is 0 degrees, but with the extra flap deflection im still getting a Cl of 1.54 and a Cd of 0.0156. so this is better, same lift for about 80 to 85% of the drag. ill try it out on the weekend.

also i ripped off my crappy wand. finally. i laid up some new bits tonight that will allow me to adjust everything about the wand, and to use carbon rod and tube of varying stiffness and size. I have a choice of two wands to start with - a straight stiff one with flexible tip and a kinked, stiff one like the old prowlers, with a flexible tip as well. ill try both on saturday weather permitting. The aim of all this is to keep the flap at full deflection while the bow is within a foot of the water. the winning wand gets glory. and to stay on the boat. it is possible that they will both lose, in which case shame will be brought apon their families. and they both also die.