Understanding Curved Boards(in the A Class)

[Doug Lord]

From the dna blog:

2010 is year of the curved boards.
We are beginning to understand why curved boards work and how the boards should be setup.
More lift is als more drag so there is an optimum.
Sometimes the boards can lift the boat completely out of the water, especially in a tack or gybe, which can be a bit scary, though overall control of the boat is much better.
What we noticed is that while doing the wild thing we reach higher endspeeds and have more consistent speeds.
The boat can be pushed harder and we even see people standing in the trapeze while doing the wildthing.
Upwind the boat feels lighter and can handle more power. The boat foots very well but can be pointed if needed.
With the curved boards we enter a whole new area of performance. On a race course the boat is in medium conditions 3-5 percent faster than the old boats.
My prediction is that in the 2010 Worlds at least 80 percent of the top 10 will have curved boards.

CU in Cesenatico

http://dnacat.blogspot.com/search/label/curved%20boards