Well, passenger jets only have to fly right side up, but the competition acro stuff has to do both, changing the angle of attack gives one side of the wing more lift, thus they can fly with a 100% symetrical airfoil. If you put a big enough engine on it, you can make a barn door fly, but they had to put two of them on the F4! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Inside joke for any of you sled drivers out there.

Our soft sails are akin to the Wright Bro's. early cloth covered wings. Wing development has come a long way in the past 100+ years, but we are still using soft wing technology. It does add to ease of use (you can roll them up and put them in a sock) and keep our costs down.

Who wants to be a "Wing Sherpa" at a regatta and buy a huge box to carry it in? Not too many, so I predict the Wing, while being obviously better ie. generating more lift, will not catch on in large numbers. Too cumbersome to transport, might be too fragile if you land on it in a capsize... and too expensive to replace if (excuxe me, I meant WHEN) you break it. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />