I know there aren't many arguments against kick-up foils, but I thought the article on the Vendée from Sail's SailFeed was a good reminder that even the pros aren't immune to hitting debris. 


  Quick Carnage in the New York-Vendée Race
  Within 24 hours of the start of the New York-Vendée race, no less than five boats had to return for repairs after hitting some kind of debris.

        www.sailfeed.com/2016/05/loads-of-attrition-in-the-new-york-vendee-race


  Of course, at least some of the collisions were in the early morning hours, and at least one boat was doing about 30 knots, so it would have been /really/ tough to steer clear of whatever damaged the hulls and daggerboards.  But that's also the point -- it's the stuff we can't see that's the most dangerous.

  How much cooler would it be to swear, reset the kick-up fuse, and get back in the race, or at least sail cleanly to port? 

  Assuming the hull is intact, the worst case would be unusable rudders that can be removed from the water while sitting high and dry on the lw hull.  Even then a schooner rigged harryproa could steer and shunt with the sails in just about any weather. 

  Try /that/ in any other 40'+ multihull!  Even if there's no issue with the daggerboard being stuck in the case, or the case leaking, tacking or gybing a larger multihull could be a serious challenge in both light winds and in serious weather.

        - Mike

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