I just registered as a new member, but as a non pilot I may be totally outof place here.
my game is kite hydrofoiling and I am looking for some advice on building a canard hydrofoil that is designed for straightline speed. hydrofoil kiteboards are weight balanced in pitch and directional control is much like riding a bicycle. there are no control surfaces, everything is fixed. My question is about pitch stability. There is an existing canard hydrofoil called the zeeko spitfire. its canard has about 3 degrees more incidence than the main wing. At speed, hydrofoils operate at les then 0,5 degrees of incidence, so the configuration will end up traveling with negative incidence on the rear foil. Shifting the center of lift, forward and beond the canard. To avoid this, the canard could be made very small, but this is would reduce pitch stability which is needed to maintain flight in a one foot vertical window. Also the high angle of attack on the canard wil cause flow separation at speed, because water is heavy.
My most favoured option would be a canard or a tandemwing where the front wing has the same angle of attack as the rearwing. Who can tell me if this would still yield a good pitch stability, or is the pitch stability lost when the a.o.a. of the canard or frontwing is reduced below a certain number.
happy to hear your comments.
thx, Emile
