Yeah I would imagine two opposing identical airfoils would cancel eachother out 
Boats travel on a plane of water, they do not travel through a reasonably consistant medium. You are pushing water (heavy) out of the way and any vacuum in the wake is replaced by air which is light. In that scenario it does take more energy to push the water than it takes to overcome the vacuum. If you want to use a marine vessle as an example, the submarine is the one that most reasonably applies because the substance that is being pushed aside is the same substance that has to rush in to fill the void in the wake. Again, take a look at the shape of the front of a submarine.
I'm not saying a reduced frontal area doesn't reduce drag. I'm simply stating the fact that the shape of a wedge will produce less drag when it travels blunt end forward rather than pointy end forward. Knife-edged crank throws are typically wedge shaped. So as I was saying before it would make more sense aerodynamically/fluidynamically to knife edge the trailing side rather than the leading side.
The absolute best shape would be pointy on both sides, but that wouldn't leave you much to balance with
No I have never taken a course in engineering
Boats travel on a plane of water, they do not travel through a reasonably consistant medium. You are pushing water (heavy) out of the way and any vacuum in the wake is replaced by air which is light. In that scenario it does take more energy to push the water than it takes to overcome the vacuum. If you want to use a marine vessle as an example, the submarine is the one that most reasonably applies because the substance that is being pushed aside is the same substance that has to rush in to fill the void in the wake. Again, take a look at the shape of the front of a submarine.
I'm not saying a reduced frontal area doesn't reduce drag. I'm simply stating the fact that the shape of a wedge will produce less drag when it travels blunt end forward rather than pointy end forward. Knife-edged crank throws are typically wedge shaped. So as I was saying before it would make more sense aerodynamically/fluidynamically to knife edge the trailing side rather than the leading side.
The absolute best shape would be pointy on both sides, but that wouldn't leave you much to balance with
No I have never taken a course in engineering
