June-July 2020

The foiling UFO’s main foil tucks safely between the hulls to allow for beaching
The Foiling UFO, the orange rod at the bow is the height sensor wand
wingsails is reminiscent of old America’s Cup classes and
seaworthy traditions, but the rule includes hydrofoils to
attract high performance crews and larger TV audiences.
The Flyak
a one-design, high performance, foiling wingsail catamaran
that is the weapon of choice for the SailGP series, an
exciting race, pitting seven international teams against
each other in five iconic venues around the world. The
boats are so bleeding edge, they’re more like spaceships
than sailboats. Each team in SailGP has one crew member
called a flight controller. Their job is keeping the boat
flying at just the right height, controlling all hydrofoiling
surfaces of the boat.
In the upcoming America’s Cup in 2021 foiling will once
again take center stage, with the AC75, a 75 foot monohull
with canting ballasted T-foils and soft sails, they’re
amazing boats to watch. The return to monohulls with
soft sails after three America’s Cups on multihulls with
Foiling on sailboats generally equates to high-performance
and is usually reserved for more experienced sailors. On
the other end of the spectrum, a few companies are
making foiling available for everyone. One such company
is Fulcrum Speedworks, designers of the Foiling UFO
sailing catamaran. Its foiling appendages are similar to
that of the Moth but on a beach cat hull form, the foils
can safely tuck between the hulls allowing one to sail up to
the beach. New learners can start sailing in displacement
mode first then gradually move to foiling when they are
confident enough. The ride height can be adjusted with
the surface sensor wand similar to that on Moths. Learners
as young as 12 years old are learning to foil with the UFO,
It’s okay for older sailors too. in a promotional video of the
UFO, a 65 year old is shown having a great time on one.
Human powered craft are not exempt from the foiling
revolution, the flyak is one such craft. You can probably
guess that it’s a foiling kayak. You start in displacement
mode but as soon as you get enough speed, the hull will
start to rise above the water allowing you to go much
faster. To demonstrate its speed, the designers pitted the
flyak against a four man racing kayak team and the flyak
won. Foiling is definitely here to stay, but with extra speed
always remember to practice safety first. Sailboats used
to just be an expensive way of going slow, but with foils,
not anymore, yeah it’s still expensive but at least now it’s
faster.
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