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Rosie and I will be there in what is likely to be my last competitive sail in blue kangaroo before she's for sale.
Nick

"what is the Max rake required from the horizontal forewards, does it EVER need raking aft?"
I remember reading somwhere that the 14's were using 7degrees +ve as their magic number for best performance, this is probably not far out from what we are using. the best way to find your optimum is to go out keep pulling more +ve on in a moderate breze untill you fell the boat star to slow then let it off a bit to go faster again, mark this as you max on position, on the boats i have sailed we have had a stopper so we can't pull more on than this.
how far -ve you will need to go depends what rudder you have your hull shape and your weight you probably won't need as much -ve as you do +ve, you only really use -ve when it's really windy.

"does it always default to a vertical position, ie get swept back if not raked forewards? Hope that makes sense"
again this depends on your setup but strong bungee definatly helps 
"how much does it need adjusting once set up for conditions and the leg being sailed"
again this vaires, rule of thumb is to leave it on you max on position unless it is pushing the bow down when you should be planning in which case let it off, it is always a good idea to have the controll line somwhere you can easily let it off going downwind if it's windy & gusty

"is there any geometric advantage to having the pintles move rather than the stock itself if you could remove stretch in any system used."
the advantage of not moving the pintles is simplicity, the disadvantage is it changes the ballence of the rudder as you change the angle and when you go to far off it would load up in the same way as sailing with a normal rudder half up, that is why i prefer moving the pintles. that said some people have setups where the pinltes don't move and haven't reported any problems. the other adavantage of moving the pinltes is you can put more travel into the system.
 
good luck with you project, don't forget these foils put a lot of load into the boat, they can amost support the weight of the whole boat and crew if you could balence it when it's windy, so make sure whatever you do with the pintles they are securley attached to the hull and your transom is strong enough, this is probably easyest if you make your bottom pintle the one you transfer the majority of the load through.
hope this helps
Nick

Hi Emily,
I have already broken 2 masts this year, both were replaced on insurance by p&b intime to be sailed at the next event. If you take your broken mast to them it helps with getting the correct measurements and settings.
Hope this helps.
Nick

Speaking as one of the youth sailors in the fleet there are several statements in this thread that I disagree with, firstly the under 30’s contingent at burton week last year was stronger than the AC contingent, and the majority of us had winged rudders. Secondly a DCB is not needed to be competitive, Steve Norbury and Andy Hill were one of the fastest boats at BW 2010 in their foolish with winged rudder despite being a lot heavier than most, the Ballantine brothers have been quick in their foolish (built 1998 ) peter was 6^th at BW last Year and 3^rd at the inlands with a rudder they built themselves for under £200, I was second at Norfolk week this year in a foolish and even won a race. Thirdly winged rudders cost less than a suit of sails and last the life of the boat which new sails won’t and you can build one yourself with the adjustment system for less than £100, Steve LeGrys did and his is probably the best adjustment system in the fleet.
You may look at the results and see DCB’s dominating the top spots at Burton week over the last few years but this is mostly because those are the best sailors who have been there.
 A couple of other points worth mentioning, Peter Ballantine had the opportunity to sail the original DCB over the summer last year and decided that it was faster upwind than his foolish but slower around the course than his foolish. I believe the weight range of the boats has gone up with the foiling rudders, I never felt like I was lacking in boat speed against the likes of Graham and Zoe or Tom and Andrea despite sailing the boat a couple of stone heavier (I was almost always over 19 stone normally closer to 20) and this I often felt was to my advantage, I was losing out because I didn’t sail as well as they did. Also on the weight front William Warren and Sophie Mackley qualify for the tubs trophy (for those over 21 stone combined) and lost the champs at Hayling Island in 2012 on count back and would have almost certainly won if they hadn’t gone swimming in the last race.
With the price of second hand foolishes I believe an outsider could win Burton week if they sailed as well as the best DCB with a budget of £4200 (£2200 for the boat, £900 for an ‘off the shelf’ winged rudder, new sails for £1100(or £900 in the sale)) or a lot less than that if they are prepared to put in a bit of work themselves, and there are very few classes with the level of competition the 12 has you can have the boat speed to win in at that price.
 
Another preconception that people seem to have is that boats with wings are difficult to tack, this simply isn’t the case most of the time, it’s only when it’s really windy and you are sat much further back that you need to work out a new way of getting across the boat as the tiller gets in the way, but the wings make gybing significantly easier especially when it gets windier, Lewis and I had no issues gybing at the Steve Nicholson memorial trophy this year when it was exceptionally windy and the run was littered with upturned boats a lot of whom are well respected dinghy sailors.

Hi John
Could you please weigh my boat on friday as well? We hope to be there soon after 6
Thanks Nick

Hi Simon

The DCB is the fastest design all round and will cost over £8000 second hand if you can find one

The foolishes with wings and the paradigms are the best of the rest,. The foolishes are probably quicker in planning conditions, Steve Norbury was said to be fastest downwind at burton week 2010, having finishing positions of 12,2,6,4,8. My foolish is up for £5100 with lots of good gear including an improved version of Steves’ winged  rudder.

The standard foolish is still quick in light airs (Chris & Sophie won a race last year at the Leigh and Lowton Gill event) and there are other boats of similar speeds such as chapters, numinous’, paradoxs. These are selling at £3000 - £4000

My opinion is that the foolish with wings is faster than the DCB downwind when it is windy but slightly less stable. I was confident I could compete with the DCBs in a blow but not in the lighter conditions. If you are mostly sea sailing the foiling foolish is a very competitive boat at less than half the cost of a new DCB.

Nick

below the water line i belive it is a standard big issue, it just looks a bit odd because the bow was narrowed above the waterline, this was to stop the boat slowing down so much in waves

I am putting in independant adjustable shroulds with and overall shrould controll as well in my foolish, i would recomend you take a look at Kevin Iles's set up in his foolish, he has the overall shrould controll on a flip flop bock with cleat just behind the CB case next to the jib tension which is also on a flip flop with cleat.
Above deck it has a 2:1 on each shrould, below deck he has another 2:1 but one of the tails goes to the overall shrould tension and the other goes to some more purchase to the individual adjust on the side of the CB case.
Hope this helps.

we will be in the baggy, the foolish dosnt look like it will be ready for a little while yet.

hi jeremy
i can be there with boat ready for 11 but Naomi might be a bit late
 

I think that the big winter handicap events are the perfect place for experimenting as it enables you to judge your boat speed without having to risk it at more important class events but you still get lots of good sailors to compare to, however i don't think it would be appropriate to sail with equipment which is in doubt over its legality without asking for permition from the race officer.

[face=Calibri]I have got a foolish hull which I am about to fit out. [/face]
[face=Calibri]I am looking at getting a winged rudder so was wondering if anyone has any pictures of Steve Norbury's setup as he seems to have very good boat speed, i was considering fitting a piston through the bottom of the transom similar to the DCB and was wondering what effect this might have with the rudder being further from the transom when not at full lift, other suggestions welcome but I would prefer to have the weight attached to the boat so is included in all up weight not unmeasured in the rudder stock.[/face]

[face=Calibri]Cheers Nick[/face]

If none of the better guys want to go me and Naomi are up for it
Nick (hopfully the foolish will be ready by then)

I am looking for a Foolish. Does anyone know of anyone who is thinking of selling one or who would be willing to lend me one to try at Northampton?