Back in the days when I lived in Newport I was roommates with a guy named Bear aka George Peet. Bear has gone on to many great feats on the water but one of the things he does really well is Foil. He is a staple in the Moth Class and regularly places himself in top events. Watching his progression over the years has always made me a believer in FOILING. From my infancy on Kites and in Speed Sailing I have preached that the only way to really go faster was to get ABOVE the water. Right now Kiteboarding holds the Outright World Speed Record at 55.65 Knots. As most people know it was done in a man made trench in freaking Africa. Rob Douglas travelled half way around the world just to get the right water texture. Are you kidding me!?
Well guess what Rob recently acquired? You guessed it a Foiling Kiteboard. Now we have seen them around a little bit over the last few years. The occasional website, maybe a picture or two but holy shit they are starting to pop up everywhere. Why? Because they are fast as lightning and require much less sail area to propel them. When I was in France competing in Le Mondial Du Vent there were a few guys out riding them in the Long Distance races and they were really fast as long as they could stay upright. What was interesting was that when we were on 10m Kites they were on 4M Kites and they were hauling the mail on the reaches.
So sure enough now were are seeing it in Sailing at the highest levels: Americas Cup 72 Class. These are 72 foot Catamarans with Millions and Millions of dollars invested in them and you know what they are using? FOILS!! A "T" Foil on the Rudder and retractable "J" Foils for the daggerboards. Oh and lets not forget L'Hydroptere which holds the Record for the Nautical Mile. They are Foiling too.
So I have 4 boards to build for the NASSI in the next month and then you know what I am building? You guessed it a FOIL!
Well guess what Rob recently acquired? You guessed it a Foiling Kiteboard. Now we have seen them around a little bit over the last few years. The occasional website, maybe a picture or two but holy shit they are starting to pop up everywhere. Why? Because they are fast as lightning and require much less sail area to propel them. When I was in France competing in Le Mondial Du Vent there were a few guys out riding them in the Long Distance races and they were really fast as long as they could stay upright. What was interesting was that when we were on 10m Kites they were on 4M Kites and they were hauling the mail on the reaches.
So sure enough now were are seeing it in Sailing at the highest levels: Americas Cup 72 Class. These are 72 foot Catamarans with Millions and Millions of dollars invested in them and you know what they are using? FOILS!! A "T" Foil on the Rudder and retractable "J" Foils for the daggerboards. Oh and lets not forget L'Hydroptere which holds the Record for the Nautical Mile. They are Foiling too.
So I have 4 boards to build for the NASSI in the next month and then you know what I am building? You guessed it a FOIL!
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