Wednesday 16 July 2014

Foiling Vampire - will it work?

16th July:  The new foils are nearly ready for the Vampire, a much adapted Marstrom 20.  We will rig the boat this weekend at the factory, and snagging problems should be dealt with next week ready for a launch before the end of July.

The design has little in common with the L foils appearing on the Flying Phantom, the Nacra FCS or the America's cup boats.  Some basic details:

Length:  6.08metres
Beam with one foil down: 4.7metres
Weight:  180kgs - up from 162kgs last year
Upwind sail area: 22.5 sqm - down from 27.8 sqm last year
Spinnaker:  27sqm.  Light winds only
Lift out speed: 12 knots
Theoretical max speed upwind in 12 knots of wind: 19 knots at 50 degrees to true wind angle
Theoretical max speed downwind in 12 knots of wind: 25 knots at 140 degrees to true wind angle
Foil designer:  Kevin Ellway (designer of the Exocet Moth)
Builder:  Graham Eeles
Originator and owner:  William Sunnucks

We want to create a catamaran which sails faster than a Moth.  This is a demanding target which may take a while to achieve with consistency:  the moths have 10 years of foiling development and once up they are now faster than almost anything else on the water.  VPP calculations suggest a Moth could have rounded Texel in under two hours in this year's conditions - the leading boat, a Nacra FCS took 2 hours 30 minutes.

We also want a boat that remains fast in light winds and can be launched from the beach.


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