rick,
there's an interesting brainstorming session going on over at the yahoo proa group concerning all possible ways to steer a proa. not sure if you're following it, but wanted to get your thoughts on one idea in particular: changing the relative COE and CLR to induce a yaw torque.
for now let's not consider the practicalities of how exactly to move sails and/or foils fore to aft. rather, i'm more curious about the possible theoretical advantages.
the benefit, i think, over changing the AOA of a foil or sail, is that lift is not decreased nor is drag increased. seems faster then. but how does the maximum possible turning force compare to that of conventional rudders?
consider your proa, the one with a solid wing sail slightly longer ww hull. if one were to get rid of the two rudders and mount the non-rotating leeboard under one of the bows and the sail on the other bow, how much torque would there be compared to what
your planned rudders could put out?
just curious how much of a difference in the fore-aft position of the COE and CLR would be needed to achieve the same steerage.
practically, i'm thinking of a fixed mast and a leeboard mounted on rails on the lee side of the lw hull, but wondering how much it would have to be moved fore-to-aft, and whether the length of the boat is enough.
thanks,
ben