Tomahawk

But the Tomahawk may hopefully be noisier underwater with all that flow detachment. Not so deep either.

Having given up on the idea of foiling when I discovered the need to wade out, wipe out and endure all sorts of hassle, this boat is starting to interest me in the concept again.

Originally posted by Medway Maniac The Cherub's drag will drop as planing is achieved, and I'm thinking the stepped foil's drag might drop once ventilation occurs. Again, interesting stuff, and l look forward to seeing how it works out in practice against conventional planing boats. My guess is slower in F1, 2 & low 3, quicker thereafter - till it's weed-bound. Anyone know how the foiling Moths cope with weed, or are they so quick and their foils so sharp they just cut through it?

The one thing I have found with Moth foils is that as soon as they ventilated they get draggy and you get slower until the air scrubs off and normal service resumes. I'm currently of the opinion that this design is likely to have a pretty low ceiling in terms of top end speed, but then who cares if you are getting newbies into flying.

The sort of weed that grows up from the bottom of lakes isn't so foiler friendly, but the smaller surface weed is very difficult to pick up and is also pretty easy to spot from high up...

If you want an easy to sail foiler I still reckon it should look like this:



Fully Moth legal, and with a bit of effort to make the foils retractable off you trot...

Originally posted by aardvark_issues The one thing I have found with Moth foils is that as soon as they ventilated they get draggy and you get slower until the air scrubs off and normal service resumes. I'm currently of the opinion that this design is likely to have a pretty low ceiling in terms of top end speed, but then who cares if you are getting newbies into flying.

I think the difference is that Moth foils are very efficient and ventillation will certainly reduce that markedly, but the Tomahawk foil starts inefficient with lots of drag off those steps. Air fed into the steps might just reduce some of the turbulence as it does when the stepped hydroplane starts planing fully.

I'm sure you're right that the top speed of the Tomahawk will be slow relative to a Moth, but it might be quicker than a normal dinghy (raising the usual question as to whether it can be meaningfully handicap-raced - foiling Moths and sailboars can't imho).

Tomahawk might be able to provide the foiling sensation of your Moth with only 1/10 of the difficulty though. I think your photo shows the launching/rigging problems of a Moth well, and that's before you've tried to ride the thing - too much hassle for me, for sure.

Originally posted by Chris Turner It can be launched in the normal dinghy manor and sailed by the average Jo, it is meant to be easy and fun, not faster.

The fact that it can be launched normally makes it alot more attactive & sellable,If true!

I could be talked into trying the tomohawk but not a moth, to much trouble to launch & land. 

Edited by bert

A biplane foiler, why not make it 3 and you could call it the Red Baron!