RobRiley, "Normally a wing will have more suction strength vectoring up and slightly forward on a wing, activate a flap and that swishes away to the aft end and pointing aft. That vector change is a result of more drag pulling the lift vector back, and the relocation of the lift vector along the chord is the powerful effect the flap is having."
Exactly. Moving the force vector backwards is bad except when the boat is sailing down wind, (or landing an airplane). As the boat picks up speed, if it is a fast boat, at some point it will try to sail into the wind and then the flap will dramatically slow the boat down (just like landing a plane). The flap then is released, but the airfoil shape at this point is the same as if it had no flap and the airfoil shape has less surface (lift) than a slightly larger, lighter, less draggy, airfoil.
If you are primarily sailing downwind, a wing doesn't make any sense period, it just doesn't have the surface area of a sail.
Maybe the reason for flaps on wings is because of racing rules limiting sail area and retracted flaps don't count as sail area?
Talador
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Posted by: taladorwood@yahoo.com.au
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