Posted: Sun May 22, 2005 7:55 pm
Sailing Hydrofoils:
Probably the most famous is the 31 tri Williwaw. Ive never been aboard a sailing hydrofoil but they seem to be catamarans or trimarans.
The 26X:
I have a background with powered hydrofoils and have often thought that the light weight and planing attributes of the 26X hull might lend itself well to be a powered fully submerged canard hydrofoil. The hull would certainly need a lot of reinforcement or an internal framework to support the struts and foils. I think that with sailing hydrofoils, you need to achieve enough hullborne speed (say 12 knots) in order for the thing to rise out of the water and start flying and that is where the monohull would have a problem. I suppose you could use power to help get the monohull up there, and then transition to sail, to sustain flight.
Low Cost Alternative:
In the 70's there was a group that sold a surface piercing ladder foil kit that could be fitted to Hobie Cats. You can still get these kits and they are much cheaper than going with a Rave or TriFoiler.
Check this out:
http://www.foils.org/gallery/sail.htm
Probably the most famous is the 31 tri Williwaw. Ive never been aboard a sailing hydrofoil but they seem to be catamarans or trimarans.
The 26X:
I have a background with powered hydrofoils and have often thought that the light weight and planing attributes of the 26X hull might lend itself well to be a powered fully submerged canard hydrofoil. The hull would certainly need a lot of reinforcement or an internal framework to support the struts and foils. I think that with sailing hydrofoils, you need to achieve enough hullborne speed (say 12 knots) in order for the thing to rise out of the water and start flying and that is where the monohull would have a problem. I suppose you could use power to help get the monohull up there, and then transition to sail, to sustain flight.
Low Cost Alternative:
In the 70's there was a group that sold a surface piercing ladder foil kit that could be fitted to Hobie Cats. You can still get these kits and they are much cheaper than going with a Rave or TriFoiler.
Check this out:
http://www.foils.org/gallery/sail.htm