On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:31:53 -0500, I am Tosk
wrote:



I remember an Americas cup boat at one time that tried a dimpled design
like a golf ball. IIRC the idea was to introduce air bubbles across the
bottom. They suggested it was like the laps on a viking ship which
apparently kept air bubbles under the surface along the seams or
something like that.

Saw some discussion of that. And the engineers pooh-poohing it, since
a golf ball is flying though the air.
Also saw that Dennis Connor was wet-sanding the hulls of his racing
boats and when asked why, he said "Because everybody else is doing
it."
They actually have some claims for this boat, but it might be all PR.
Seems as fuel prices rise, they could get some traction if their
claims are true.
I imagine a big cost of sportsfisher operation is fuel, and cutting
that cost would be a boon to business.
But maybe tradition works against trying anything new.

--Vic