I thought they were pretty cool before if saw these pictures and a video of one FOILING! who knew cats can foil?
http://tvnz.co.nz/sailing-news/team-nz-s-new-catamaran-in-full-flight-video-5066890
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clivewright/7941838066/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clivewright/7941829420/in/photostream/
Edited by optikid on Sep 06, 2012 - 02:42 PM.
OMGosh that so rocks!!!
Wow. I cant wait to see these go in heads up racing. The speeds are going to be awesome.
I damn near wet my pants. That's freaking COOL!!
So... What do you think it would take to add curved boards to my P-Cat? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
Aaaaah... I'll just live vicariously through the AC72 crews.
Tom
that tri is trying to beat the speed record for the fastest sailboat to go from California (i think its ca.) to Hawaii
Edited by optikid on Sep 07, 2012 - 05:08 PM.
mind blowing!! flying two hulls!
81' Hobie 18
Lake Michigan South Shore Line
idec / Hydroptere has been around in one version or another for many years and currently holds speed records ( speeds of up to 61 knots )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgNtPETcta4
check out it's sister - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6JiYwQJ4ho
I am personally a bigger fan of BMW/ORACLE - 
MN3
The more I look at those AC72 boats, the more I like their implementation of foils. With so many boats, the foils are either designed in in such a way that the boat doesn't work without them (Moth / Hobie Trifoiler) or they're such a bolt-on monstrosity, you wouldn't actually want to use it on the water (remember that mystery boat that was posted a while back that looked like a cross between a Hobie 16 and a biplane?)
What I like about the AC72 design is it's just a different foil/rudder combination. The boats were originally designed with curved boards. Looking at the launch of the AC72s, some still had curved trunks when they hit the water. Others have straight trunks. It's just hardware. And with or without it, the boat is still one sleek piece of work.
So this really does lead me back to my wishful thinking from earlier: What WOULD it take to put foils on a cat that is already rigged for boards?
At a first guess I'm thinking new rudders with T-foils, each of which has adjustable pitch to set the height of the boat in the water. (I like how the Hobie Trifoiler did this, using mechanical feedback.) Next, blades with foils on the bottom. Anything else?
No, I'm not likely to do this to my P-Cat any time soon. And at #540 dry weight, it's really not the boat to do this to anyway. But a guy can dream. Once upon a time catamarans were all sloop or uni rigged, with a couple of crazy guys sticking bowsprits and asymmetric spinnakers on their boats. Now the spinnakers are common practice. Are foils next?
Tom