Foiling Sailboats!

[tarquin]

https://bigtoysonline.com/produit/foiling-dinghy-nouveau-voilier-a-foil/
Another one!

[tarquin]

[Admin]

Great video.

The various rig types are going about it very differently.  Kind of choose your flavor.

I don't think there is much of a question who's king

Check out how granular you can get with this Moth rig.  Holy shit is that an impressive piece of kit.  40 MPH on water is rare air for sure but it is way cool to see how they get there.

[PonoBill]

Holy shit, no way I'd want to do all that fucking around to go sail. I'm going to take that to the next level--I'm probably going to get the UFO instead of the Sketah. The UFO looks simple and straightforward. Just like me. I like the look of the Foiling Dingy and its surface-piercing foils. A similar layout to the Geezer foil that I tried to build. I wonder what I did with those foils?? But yeah, I think the UFO is a winner for distraction-boy.

[Admin]

I am sure there are benefits and it will be cool to have you on a different system. 

Check out the rigging on the UFO here to see if it suits you:



Waszp here:



Skeeta Here (said to be 15 minutes from a foils on start point, only 5 minutes if you can store mast up):



There are pretty big price differences in the boats.  In some areas this is fairly apparent.

This was my rig over-analysis:

Current Moth:  Carbon mast, full luff sleeve with many camber inducers, Carbon Spreader with shrouds/stays, Sailboat style carbon boom with gooseneck, Individual Cunningham and Vang.  High foot (easy to get under during transitions). All lines forward.  Extreme tension rig design, Most difficult to rig

Skeeta:  Carbon mast, no luff sleeve, Carbon Spreader with shrouds/stays.  Sliding track/halyard system, No Camber inducers (RAF style), Sailboat style carbon boom with gooseneck, Unified adjustable Cunningham and Vang.  High foot (easy to get under during transitions). All lines forward.  Low tension rig design, Easiest to rig

Waszp: Windsurf style rig on a carbon Mast, Full Luff Sleeve, Camber inducers, no shrouds/stays, dangling wishbone style aluminum boom, downhaul only, foot very low to deck.  Sheets from the clew (behind the skipper).  Looks like a windsurf level tension on rig, Second Easiest to rig

UFO:  Carbon Mast, no luff sleeve, track halyard system (significant feeding required), No shrouds/stays, Carbon wishbone style boom with aluminum spreaders, downhaul only, foot very low to deck at decksweeper, a bit more room aft of that.  Sheets from the clew (behind the skipper).  Third easiest to rig

[Caribsurf]

I have been talking to Kirk from Fulcrum (UFO manufacturer)  a lot this summer mainly about their new small sailboat the Rocket.
I told him of all the talk on the "Zone regarding foiling sailboats. 

He said if anyone has questions about the UFO shoot him an e-mail..

ufosailing@gmail.com

[Tom]

The foiling dingy looks fun but it doesn't fly very high above the water. I doubt it could do a full foiling jibe. I'm thinking the UFO would be all around fun but with not the high performance of the Skeeta but still fast. As a windsurfer I appreciate simplicity and know that a bit of adjustment to outhaul and downhaul can change performance a lot. I contacted both Skeeta and UFO and they are happy to ship their boats to the West coast but they only do direct sales.
Guess I'll have to run down an owner or maybe find a boat show.

[Admin]

Yup,  the centerline/inline foilers look too cool for these small boats.  Plus, it is closer to what we are used to.

It strikes me that with everything happening at the centerline, one (by one, I mean Bill) could build a sick (rectangular) narrow (6 inches?), overbuilt, fuselage centerline box with multiple attachment points for wand, mast stump, all rigging attachments, through-foil, wings, gantry, etc.  You could then bolt on various hull shapes/designs (probably slotted).  Modular, infinitely adjustable, super strong, upgradable.  Everything could mount to this box or the wings. 

Oh, the mind does move...

[Solent Foiler]

Or you could just say that hulls are superfluous amd overrated!?!

[Admin]

That is so great!

[PonoBill]

From what I could tell from my position slowly drowning myself, the hull of a moth is mostly imaginary. That's simply a more obvious way to have to swim back to shore.

[Admin]

From what I could tell from my position slowly drowning myself, the hull of a moth is mostly imaginary. That's simply a more obvious way to have to swim back to shore.

Check out this (really nicely detailed)  moth build.  Incredible.  It boggles my mind that these things can bear (what I imagine to be) these loads, even for a short while.  No sane person would think that you should ever be united with one of these. 

https://www.sail-world.com/news/229181/How-to-home-build-a-Moth

[headmount]

There used to be this thing quite a few years ago, before foiling as we know arrived, called the trifoiler.  Laird and some others were toying around with it off Kuau and this older guy, older than Pono, got convinced to try it.  So with totally inadequate training, he jumps into the thing and begins going bat outta hell fast.  Finally crashed into the rocks.  Trashed the boat and banged himself up pretty bad.  The guy was a big deal, owner of all the Bally Health clubs you see in many hotels, lives in Malibu, the works.  "Yeah, piece of cake.  Anyone can do it."

[Admin]

This showed up this week.  It is a really cool package.  Getting it set up now....slowly.  I am planning to leave mine as set up as possible but everything comes in a group of delightful padded bags.  SWEEET!  Very stoked to see what is possible. 

[Dwight (DW)]

Looks fun