Ben Ainsle's new boat.

[rotrax]

Returning through the submarine barrier gap off Southsea last week first mate and I witnessed, at close quarters, Ben Ainslie's foiling monohull going REALLY fast.

No AIS, but it was the quickest thing around by bloody miles.

The accompianing motorboat-filming?-and rib were left far behind. And it could change direction really fast too.

Impressive.

 

[flaming]

I have to admit to being really surprised as to how well the concept has worked.

I'm almost a convert now....

 

[Beelzebub]

Sailing Anarchy originally dissed the boat but have now tempered their opinion a bit:-

http://sailinganarchy.com/2018/09/04/humble-pie/

 

[bbg]

I have to admit to being really surprised as to how well the concept has worked.

I'm almost a convert now....

The question is, will it scale?

 

[flaming]

The question is, will it scale?

That is a big question. And also, can they stop crashing quite as much. Can't imagine a 75 foot version is going to shrug off the wipeouts like the test boat.

 

[ifoxwell]

Do we know if the crew are controlling the flight characteristics or do they have a computer managing that for them?

 

[lw395]

Do we know if the crew are controlling the flight characteristics or do they have a computer managing that for them?

Interesting question.
With the cats, the big limitation of the class rule was that the control was only allowed to be done by manually moving the whole foil/daggerboard assembly.
Whereas a Moth or Waszp (sp?) achieves better control automatically using a wand to sense ride height and a trim tab on the foil.
I don't know how fast the Ainslie boat(?) thing is, but in terms of hull lengths per second, an 11ft moth at 25+ knots is all over it.

It's an interesting engineering curiosity, but I'm still sceptical that it will provide racing that's great to watch. I can't see this configuration having much relevance in other areas of sailing. I see it as simply an obscure rule set designed to give NZ a head start in the development race. It looks like Ainslie&Co are putting in a serious development effort though, so maybe they are in with a shout this time?

 

[flaming]

Do we know if the crew are controlling the flight characteristics or do they have a computer managing that for them?

My understanding is that there is more auto ride height this time round. However, I also understand that in the early stages of testing with this boat, the foil controls were actually being done remotely by someone in the chase rib.

 

[Kukri]

If the Someone Else could do that whilst being chucked about in a rib - chapeau!

 

[ifoxwell]

Thanks, it did look too good out of the blocks for just two people to be doing everything.