Land of the Pterodactyls

by John Curnow on 27 Nov 2016 Except for one thing. This has absolutely nothing to do with pre-historic times. On the contrary, it is actually far more about the foiling future we are embarked upon. How the title comes to be so is thanks to a talented sailor named Simon, who all those years ago brought me to be aware of the sobriquet that describes the trimarans.

Now it has nothing to do with their performance, but rather just their look, with those curved beams very much resembling the folded wing, ‘M’ formation. This was of course in the low-rider days, and now that their performance has increased even further, and they are indeed flying in the air, it seems even more appropriate.



At the really big end of town you have Phaedo 3 blasting away records, and Maserati up on three foils in the ocean. She has an ‘L’ on the leeward hull, ‘T’ on the rudder and now a ‘T” on the daggerboard, which has stabilised the whole thing by making her ride on all three. This kind of thing is both spectacular and inspiring.

Offshore and the UFO aspect, as demonstrated by the incident with Hugo Boss, highlights that new ground is being struck (fully intended). Further, it goes to show that the consequences for a big offshore foiling trimaran at pace when a long way from shore are also going to be new ground. Apart from the personal collision gear, like Zhik’s really cool Kollition™ items, we may end up with escape pod kind of technology needing to be deployed. We’ll see…

Then right down at the other end of the scale the new F101 OTB gem has just been launched. Boom. Boom. Basil Brush. This absolutely promises to bring foiling to a new and far bigger market. It goes to the water on a dolly, sails away as a low-rider, has a halyard for the main, a big Screecher, and quite probably the best thing, is designed to take up to 120kg of sailor. Oh, yeah, at up to 25 knots.

It looks to be a great package, and there will be a lot of bigger sailors or parents with young kids eyeing off these speedsters, and eager to get a go at one. The F101 is the product of Jerry Hill and Alan Hillman. Now unlike the looks of their craft, these are very understated kind of chaps. Hill explained recently, “We still have lots to do, but it is coming on leaps and bounds each time we sail it.”

We’ll have more on this exciting craft as the development unfolds, but leave you pondering this. It’s foils have a greater separation than other similarly sized boats, which is all about reducing pitching, and that’s bound to mean both lots of time and therefore smiles whilst flying!

So with the F101 you have a great looking craft, and you also have to think that only now we are entering the true generation of foiling sailing for everyone. Now if we have been weaving across the oceans to date, just like when you tack down the corridor after a big night, then our next board has to be to go off and have a look at the all-pro, 40+knot . SupeFoilers

There is a full report in Flight of the Pterodactyls, which stems from an interview with co-reator, Jack Macartney. There are also some new pics, so you can see it all under development. Please have a look if you are even vaguely interested in where our sport can take itself moving forward, for it is not just the craft that is in question, but also the whole experience for spectators, let alone the crew!

This week we have material on the Musto International Youth Match Racing. Well done to our own Harry Price, Harry Morton, Sam Ellis, and Jack Hubbard on their win. Of course we have loads of news from the Vendée Globe. In talking with our Mark Jardine, our Managing Editor, we learned that the new IMOCA 60s are fast – very fast. They took 18 days to get to the Cape of Good Hope instead of 23 last time.

There is also the terrific Raja Muda, and what an event that is, the Beneteau Cup, Etchells, Short Ocean Series out of Middle Harbour, Formula Kite Nationals out of the delightful Rockingham, more from Jon Sanders has he gets closer to Reunion Island, and the WMRT coming back to Oz. Then there’s the AC, Melges 24 Worlds, WIM Series, and the mighty Volvo. There is also a whole lot more too, so go for a wander to review the proverbial plethora of material for you to explore on the site.

Now don’t forget to get your club or association to send in your news via the submit function, just up in the top right of the Sail-World home page. In the meantime, do keep a weather eye on Sail-World. We are here to bring you the whole story…