: linearity of the deployment. Say you have 3 inches of control range, if
: the useful range within that is only a 1/2 inch, then fine tuning the
: boats lateral resistance center will be all but impossible. If you
: calculate the surface area every 5 degrees you will see the rate of
: increase.

in that case, then the way your (are you greg steeves?) skeg deploys might be great, as the area increases more slowly near full deployment because of the rear cutout. it actually works better than a vertical deployer.

a linear deployment shape would be the vertical like you say or close to that (not quite) would be a fan or pie shape -each angle inc also inc area.

my personal prejudice (very very generally) would be to place the skeg close to the cockpit (cg) so that i can play w/ sideslip, and with certain skeg designs have contact options.