The latest, highest performance hang glider, now being
developed in Germany,  has the pilot laying down INSIDE the wing!
(the ATOS Cage) The performance is rumored to be the best ever.

I just recently rediscovered this link to a rigid wing skate sailing page
where the pilot is completely enclosed in the (rigid) wing.
 The owner claims he raced a few DN's and even did 2 laps
with a large skeeter and easily beat them all !
http://home.swipnet.se/ansar/usa.html  (also see the linked pages)

The question arises as to why this configuration is so successful.
It has NO flap and obviously has a very low aspect ratio.
I would guess that the extremely low drag is the answer.

Could we find a way to build some kind of minimum "boat" under
such a wing?
And if we could add a flap, would it work even better?
   I would be interested in Tom Speer's (and others) comments
on this radically different concept.

Deane