I think the water probably just takes twice as long to run off a horizontal piece of cork, Ken. So it has more time to soak in. Not a lot, but a bit. Think of spraying the piece of cork laying down vs. standing up - all the water runs off the standing one right away. The laying one would take longer to dry. Same reason you stand your shoes up when you wash them.
Here's my latest cork "raft" hanging from my ceiling fan. Everybody's in the house for tonight and tomorrow night. Lows of 43 expected. Sure hope this is winter's last gasp!
