Foiling

As some of you know I have been predicting that foil sailing would eventually come to the masses at an economical price (what is economic to one person may not be to another, so the word economical is highly subjective). The America's Cup (AC) catamarans are extremely expensive of course but the technology used on those boats is now trickling down into other less expensive products that can be sailed by mere mortals. In this article I would like to announce 4 new exciting foiling sailing vessels that are now available to those of us with budgets.

1. The Extreme Racing Series has gone from non foiling Ultimate 40 catamarans (40 ft) to the GC32 foiling catamarans (32 ft), which started in 2017. These cats cost about $300,000 and you might say, wow that is a lot of money, well compared to AC cats that price is a drop in the bucket. These less expensive foiling cats now allow more teams to race at a far more reasonable price. I think many expert sailors in association with sponsors with much smaller budgets than Oracle saw the exciting AC cats and would have loved to get involved but could not due to cost, well now they can via the GC32 and the Extreme Sailing Series, and other racing series that are developing. In the US for example high performance sailboat racing is really lacking and the GC32 truly has the potential to revitalize the sport and bring in young blood that previously saw the sport of sailing as boring. This boat is normally raced by a team of 3 to 5.

The GC32 brings innovation into a simple low cost (as compared to AC cats) sailing platform. The boat incorporates four preset foils, two hulls, with standing and running rigging, and 3 sails. There is no hard to set foil angles, no wing sail that requires an extreme level of maintenance and cost to maintain, etc. Simply put the GC32 is a breath of fresh air for teams and their sponsors to get into the sport of foil sailing. See more info below.

2. Another development in foiling catamarans is the Phantom 18, which is 18 feet long. Cost is about $45,000, which is a lot for such a small cat some might say. The price might be to much for the weekend warrior to justify but for those that are adrenaline junkies and/or are regular racers this boat is the ticket. Like the GC32 this cat will also revitalize the sport of sailing. This cat is raced by a team of 2 people. See more info below.

Now here comes some good news for those looking to get into foiling but need a much lower cost. There are two great options...

3. The first is UFO is a new foiling 12 foot cat that can be sailed by one, and by two depending on ones body weight. Cost is about $7000 without shipping. Great thing is one can sail in light winds with the hulls in the water but once the winds get up to about 7 knots, off you go on the foils. It's fairly easy to sail, (as long as your not a beginner. If you are a beginner take a sailing class from us) and the boat and foils are easy to maintain. It should be noted that there is another foiling sailboat in this size range called the Moth. The difference between the Moth and UFO is that the UFO is fairly easy to sail where as the Moth is extremely hard to sail for the average sailor due to lack of stability when not foiling. I was sailing in Seattle once and saw an instructor teaching a guy to sail a Moth. I might add the student was a very experienced sailor. I was there all day sailing back and forth along the beach, and not once was the student able to get the moth up on the foils, which I was looking forward to see. I might add the wind was about 12-14 knots with no wave action. At the end of the day I saw the student and could tell he was exhausted from trying to get the Moth to foil, not to mention just to get it to sail. A UFO sails beautifully when not foiling and when the wind comes up it pops up onto the foils easily. One note of preparation is make sure to do lots of sit ups/crunches as you will need good abbs when hiking out while foiling.

4. The second product is the JP HydraFoil windsurfer. I typically do not recommend sailing a windsurfing board on our inland waters, which also include the Puget Sound and waters around Portland. The lakes and these areas typically have shifting and light winds. Not ideal for windsurfing. However the JP HydraFoil sails well in light winds, particularly their 155 board. This board has more volume to keep you afloat. This 155 board foils extremely well in light winds starting at 4 knots depending on one's body weight.

CONCLUSION

So there you have it, foiling is finally come to the general sailing community!

Here at Fun To Sail we are working to bring these sailboats to the US market. If you have questions about any of these sailboats please email us at funtosail@gmail.com