wrote

I suppose if they were too large that could result in rail walking or
something. As they are large and far outboard it seems possible that
you might get high speed instability as a result of ventilation (kind
of like what happens on a hydroplane with asymmetric venting). But,
I'm guessing that despite the jets that you aren't looking at 60 knots
or even 40 knots so probably not... What other potential problems are
you thinking about -- or are you just going to see what the sea trials
reveal?

There are several aspects to this hull design that make it unsuitable for
more than 25 - 30 knots. It's primarily optimized for slow speed comfort
and maneuvering at the expense of a few percent of top end speed. The only
problem anticipated with the fins is excessive roll out in high speed turns.
Turning at high speed isn't really necessary for this boat. The speed is
for straight line transits between study area. I think it highly unlikely
that we'll have to cut down the fins.

Oh yeah, congratulations! The launch is the happiest news I've heard in a
fortnight.

Is everything OK? I appreciate the sentiment but I'd hope you'd had better
new than that recently.

-- Tom.