3 legged foiler?

Wow interesting site with lots to read. I have been waking up at night with these ideas in my head, so maybe this is a place to see if there is any merit to them? Some of the ideas I have had, I find are already being pursued. But I have not seen a 3 legged mono-haul. If Trimarans can have a T-foil on the stern rudder and inward facing surface piercing foils on the amas, why can't you have outward facing foils on a monohaul instead of the centerboard T-foil. Sort of like lee-boards except angled out at maybe 50 or 60 degrees from vertical. If these were 3 or 4 feet long or maybe more, it seems this would improve the righting moment (RM). (a 3 legged stool is easier to balance on than a two legged stool) And I am sure someone can correct me if I am wrong but I assume these angled foils are more self regulating with speed. Faster - higher, slower - lower.

So I am picturing something like a basic 14 footer of some type or a hoot or something that sails nice in light air, then as the air freshens, will lift off and yet still be easier to "fly" than a bi-foil design.

Ok now for my other idea to improve the RM of a monohaul. Instead of climbing out on a wing to get my weight further away from the center of the boat, what if I moved the center of the boat the other way. Ok well I can't move the center of the boat, but once I come up on the rear foil, that is what I am pivoting on, so what if I make it movable from side to side. Mount the rear foil on some type of center pivot that will allow me to swing it out to each side. So when I come about, I have to swing it to the leeward side, and I have to move to the windward side. Oh opposites sides, so what if I mount my captains chair on the same pipe as this rear foil/rudder but ahead of the pivot point. Now I can swivel my chair to face whatever way is comfortable and I can swing my weight from port to starboard by pushing off with my legs while comfortably sitting. While I am easily controlling how far to windward my weight is, I am simultaneously controlling how far to leeward the foil is. I assume this would be designed to limit somewhere around a 45 degree angle so my weight stays forward of the rear foil. With this horizontal see-saw being 6 to 8 feet long, I am achieving as much or more leverage as I would if I was crawling out on a wing.

If I was good with one of those drawing programs, I would do a nice picture of my idea, but first I am curious to see if anyone thinks this has merit.
Ken

 

Foiler stability

The first Moth foiler to win a class race was a three foil surface piercing foiler that showed great bursts of speed. The idea was outlawed in the class because of fear that it would be developed along the lines you describe. It would be hard to do with surface piercing main foils but it could be done with an arrangement like a Rave foiler with dual(differential) altitude control systems(wands) that would allow
the foil system to develop stability as well as vertical lift.
The very first monofoiler was not from Australia, believe it or not, but from the USA! It was the Monitor(early 50's!) and it used a "ladder foil" surface piercing foil system that actually varied the angle of incidence of the two ladder main foils. If I remember correctly, it used shroud tension to control the foils.
One of the main sources of drag on foilers is where the vertical fin penetrates the surface so the new Moth monofoilers represent an historical advance in that they reduce the number of surface penetrations from three or four to just two.
Another thing to consider is that when a foil develops lift it also develops drag so using the foil to develop righting moment as well as lift
can add to the drag considerably(higher foil loading) and carefull design is required. Interestingly, the boat that is probably the fastest foiler in history and maybe will be the fastest sailboat ever designed uses ballast to increase righting moment-Hydroptere. An Australian surface piercing foiler-Spitfire- also used ballast for RM: it's designer said because you only have to lift it once vs the ever increasing drag of the system on a Rave. Which system is best is not yet able to be answered authoritatively-there are many experiments yet to be done! So read everythng you can and go ahead and try your idea-don't let anyone discourage you...