Wiki Sail by GRF

I think you lot are ignoring the loads that go through the rig..

There is no horizontal component to the aerodynamic force on the rig unless sailing upwind with significant heel - i.e. not in this case. Those lasers are sailing in chop of length and height equivalent to the length and freeboard of the boat, and are making about 6 kts through the water, so plenty of bow wave. This is when the extra 25cm above the static waterline could be said to make a difference.

Another effect is squat - prob less significant on boards which are essentially flat, but more curvature in the buttock plane as is a feature of most dinghy hulls to one extent or another goves rise to hydrodynamic forces which suck the boat downwards. This is particularly pertinent in very curved boats (generally synonymous with being heavy for their length) and in the pre-planing speeds, as is the case here.
For a 14ft boat at 6 to 8 kts squat can be over an inch.
Obviously when planing (over 12 kts for a 14 ft boat) the CoG actually rises a bit because the craft, if correctly shaped, is now generating hydrodynamic lift

Originally posted by winging it it's all going to end in tears...

Edited by fab100 - 27 Mar 13 at 1:05pm

I've tried following this thread, and I really can't work out who is winding who up?

Originally posted by iGRF Only one thing will resolve this issue.. Cut the Laser in half, add in the inches and see which goes faster. Nothing of anything written here will convince me that the bigger of the two lasers will not out pace the smaller of the two around a race circuit under all but full planing conditions.