Foiling for the masses

The conclusion, 3 years on, would seem to be that foiling isn't for the masses.

Originally posted by Rupert The conclusion, 3 years on, would seem to be that foiling isn't for the masses.

That was Linton (?) with the Tomahawk - it was always touted as purely a development hack and not a production ready boat. I've no idea what happened to it....

And by all accounts, the systems and tech have made moth sailing a step closer to accessible. For those committed enough anyway.

It was Linton Jenkins with some affiliation at the time / that project with ovington.
I saw the boat sailing in about a f4 in Portland harbour. Bearing in mind Linton must be 60kgs soaking wet, and very handy, he was only getting it up, so to speak, with difficulty, on a beam reach. Think it could have been ok insofar aS there wouldn't be a control mechanism per se, trouble is having a. Big enough lifting surface to fly made it hard to get going in the first place.
I think that these new moths are so refined now and with the speed increase the opt weight has come up a lot so there just isn't the reason to go with something else.
Only possible gain would be in a more stable platform off the foils, but that would necessarily be so big and need clever raising retracting foils to beach because you couldn't manhandle it so it's a big increase in hassle and complexity.
Think a class cats on foils would get beat around a course by a moth (can't retract windward lifting surfaces so not as much righting moment as you'd like, only curved foils rather than pure hydrofoils)
The great and good of the sailing world with literally millions of dollars on the whole struggled with reliable controllable foiling on a (more initially stable) cat platform at the c class champs.
If we go back to the hobie tri foiler it is apparently big, quite complicated ie difficult to launch solo, and once you get ripping apparently quite an uninvolving ride.

I think moths are the peoples foilers. If you can sail a laser you can sail a modern one in a straight line, it would seem. Corners / racecourses / inland/ windy and light obv are tougher.
The inflatable wing bladders mean that you can chill and eat a sandwich in a way you couldn't in a lot of (slower) skiff classes in any breeze.