Foiling at last.....
Linton Jenkins at full force boats is an enthusiatic guy who is one of only two International Moth hydrofoil builders in the world, I'd entrusted him to fit one of his kits to my pride and joy. Now it was time to become a test pilot...
After all the problems people had been having, breaking things, not flying properly. I was a bit cynical about what I was just about to spend my cash on... Other times I was as excited as a school kid on christmas eve, bursting with anticipation.
Launching these boats is deeply a unpleasant experience, even in early september wading up to my neck in portland harbour was cold and hard work. The foils only go in from the bottom, so you have to capsize the boat and secure them in shallow water, then swim the boat out deep enough to right it.
BUT when you get away from the shore and the boat lifts out for the first time, it all becomes more than worth it. The acceleration is a big deal here, it just keeps accelerating even though you think it can't go any faster! At these speeds any slight steering has a massive effect on the boat, so at the start I was wildly oversteering. The forces involved almost threw me out of the boat (later on whilst gybing I actually lost my footing and the resulting "speed wobble" ungracefully ejected me from my ship at about a 1m altitude).
I can't really describe the actual feeling of flying, sure the boat was going fast, but the whole experience was so much more intense as the whole boat reacted in a different way. The extra third "flight" dimension was physically quite demanding as it forced you to move back and forth(fore and aft) to control the altitude, ie move back for lift and forward to bring her back down. Once you were roughly in the sweet spot there was a lot of upper body kinetics to keep pitch level. Leaving me with aching muscles for days after. I became completely immersed in the experience.
I will tell more of my experiences as I learn and progress, but here are a few photos that I have taken so far...
The foils at home.
The boat on the weymouth slipway.
The main foil close up
The rudder and the gantry
After all the problems people had been having, breaking things, not flying properly. I was a bit cynical about what I was just about to spend my cash on... Other times I was as excited as a school kid on christmas eve, bursting with anticipation.
Launching these boats is deeply a unpleasant experience, even in early september wading up to my neck in portland harbour was cold and hard work. The foils only go in from the bottom, so you have to capsize the boat and secure them in shallow water, then swim the boat out deep enough to right it.
BUT when you get away from the shore and the boat lifts out for the first time, it all becomes more than worth it. The acceleration is a big deal here, it just keeps accelerating even though you think it can't go any faster! At these speeds any slight steering has a massive effect on the boat, so at the start I was wildly oversteering. The forces involved almost threw me out of the boat (later on whilst gybing I actually lost my footing and the resulting "speed wobble" ungracefully ejected me from my ship at about a 1m altitude).
I can't really describe the actual feeling of flying, sure the boat was going fast, but the whole experience was so much more intense as the whole boat reacted in a different way. The extra third "flight" dimension was physically quite demanding as it forced you to move back and forth(fore and aft) to control the altitude, ie move back for lift and forward to bring her back down. Once you were roughly in the sweet spot there was a lot of upper body kinetics to keep pitch level. Leaving me with aching muscles for days after. I became completely immersed in the experience.
I will tell more of my experiences as I learn and progress, but here are a few photos that I have taken so far...
The foils at home.
The boat on the weymouth slipway.
The main foil close up
The rudder and the gantry
posted by Adie at 12:42 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home