Arthur’s column

A very interesting blog article by Paul Larsen from the Vesta Sailrocket speed team on his thoughts having sailed on L’Hydroptere in the Solent.

“Whilst all this happened I was imagining what it would be like lining up for a crack at the 500 meter run onboard this boat. I feel I can honestly say this. That boat is truly on the edge at high speed. To me it is fun… but not what we aspire towards with our own project. At 50 knots I can cleat off the wing and let go of the controls. I couldn’t help but feel that Hydroptere felt like three boats forced to fly in close formation.  When it gets upset by chop or ferry wakes it seems to fight itself as it wracks, yaws and nods around. This is not fast. Once it shakes itself free of all this and settles down to smooth formation flying again, you can feel it accelerate as the internal fight subsides. Foils are effective brakes when they are not in harmony. The torsion that those large foils put on the beam must be significant and to keep them in harmony must be a large engineering problem in its own right. To ride this thing at record speeds must be one of sailings finest balancing acts. She goes her fastest when she is flying the windward foil but when you look at what her motion is when she does this you quickly see that it has issues. The problem is that when she rolls, she goes from riding flat on three foils to sitting on two foils that are diagonally offset. If she just rolls to leeward then she risks lifting her ‘T’ rudder out of the water and losing all pitch stability. I guess it all depends on how she is trimmed at speed i.e. does the T rudder pull down or create lift… or neither in that it just follows the surface piercing front foils.”

Read the entire article here : http://www.sailrocket.com/blogs

L'Hydroptere on the Solent

Awesome picture!  Here is the fastest big multi in the world – L’Hydroptere – as she sets yet another record, this time over a full nautical mile.

The most awesome tri in the world!

Sorry Larry – I do really dig your BMW trimaran thing but … this is something else!  50.17 knots over a full nautical mile – that’s 92.91 km/h for you non-nautical folk.

The record was set in 28 knots of breeze – nearly twice the speed of the wind in a fairly bumpy sea.  When this thing does a circumnavigation (yes – it will happen) it will blow these jules verne records out the window.  Mind you, it could be a handful in the southern ocean!

“For 30 years, passion and daring have carried me forward, but this victory really belongs to our indomitable, tight-knit team. The historic record of more than 50 knots over one nautical mile is powerful because it lies at the frontier between the twin capacities of this extraordinary flying trimaran that is both a high-speed craft and an ocean-going sailboat. Our team now holds the top two speed records in the world, 51.36 knots over 500 metres and 50.17 knots over one nautical mile, and we can now concentrate on ocean sailing in 2010″, commented Alain Thébault.

The 60ft L’Hydroptère (from the Greek hydros, water, and ptera, wing), is a hydrofoil trimaran (the foils are actually underwater wings). It is a sleek and elegant craft with a central hull and a mast 28m high, stabilised by two side floats separated from the hull by huge 24m carbon crossbeams built at the Airbus plant in Nantes. The innovative design of the boat, which flies on submerged wings, cleverly constructed out of carbon and titanium, make it much faster, more durable and lightweight (only 6.5 tonnes). The flight envelope of the prototype is continuously defined and validated on a 3D flight simulator developed specifically for this carbon bird, which represents the new generation of extreme sailing.

Alain Thébault, designer and skipper of this Formula 1 of the seas, had always dreamt of making a boat fly. After 20 years of research and development, the flying boat is now a robust, powerful craft thanks to the help of eight retired engineers from Dassault Aviation and EADSAirbus who volunteered their time. l’Hydroptère is the perfect combination of cutting edge technology, performance and human adventure. This unique project was created by a team of sailing buffs, engineers, technicians and aircraft manufacturers. In 2006, the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) joined the team and became “Official Scientific Adviser” to assist in advanced fields such as aero-hydrodynamics, composite materials, structural behaviour and video imaging.

The amazing flyijng trimaran

I wanna be there!!

The World Sailing Speed Record have now confirmed L’Hydroptere as the fastest sailing boat in the world.  Official announcement is here.  Check out the video of this amazing feat further down on this page or on YouTube.

Check out video footage of this awesome record breaking trip here.