Foiling a 60ft Trimaran

On 6th May this year a design concept finally made it from drawing board to reality as l’hydroptère was craned into Lorient in north west France.

The project was first conceived in 1975 but it wasn’t until 1987 that work first began on building a one third scale model; a project which lasted five years.  On 1st October 1994 l’hydroptère made its first flight.  1998 saw the addition of crossbeams and following 3D modeling during 2000 additional tweaks were made.  In February 2005 Blériot’s symbolic record was smashed by l’Hydroptère with an average speed of 33 knots in 34 minutes and 24 seconds prompting serious attention from the sailing community.  By August of that year the l’Hydroptère team were joined by Thierry and Adrien Lombard and Alain Thébault prompting the project to take a new turn in developing l’Hydroptère.ch and l’Hydroptère maxi. On 4th April 2007 the concept boat won two world speed records officially ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council:  

500 meter speed record in Category D at an average of 44.81 knots
1 nautical mile speed record, all categories, at an average of 41.69 knots

500 meter speed record in Category D at an average of 44.81 knots
1 nautical mile speed record, all categories, at an average of 41.69 knots

This record was beaten in October 2008 and again in September 2009

On 8th November 2009 l’Hydroptère ended the absolute speed record campaign with an exceptional achievement i.e. she exceeded the 50 knot wind barrier by over one nautical mile. l’Hydroptère established a new world record at 50.17 knots.

Foiling a trimaran

On 1st June the latest iteration of l’hydroptère crossed the channel bound for England and on 3rd June debuted sailing in british waters around Cowes.  She’s an awesome looking boat and has I’m sure further record breaking intentions in her sights.

But the story doesn’t end there.  Over recent days there have been sightings of a competitor to l’hydroptère:  A British competitor.  It’s not yet a full size 60ft Trimaran but a smaller version the designers are calling the coastal revision.  Their plans are set on building a full size 60ft Ocean version and in the true spirit of the British underdog, taking on and beating the French by sailing faster than l’hydroptère.

I hope they paint it British racing green and place a union flag on the bow; the British underdog, taking on the mighty French who, despite what we might like to believe are, collectively at least, the best sailors in the world. But Britain has a history of out engineering and out performing its competitors, particularly when the chips are down, when funding is less that our adversaries, and our backs are against the wall. I want to see the British bulldog take on the Levithian French and take the records from under their bow, and when we do I shall be there, waving my Union flag, singing Rule Brittania, drinking tea from Whittards and offering the french British cheese as a consolation prize.

The British boat doesn’t have a name yet, but until she does, I shall call her Churchill….

Tagged as: foiling, l'hydroptère, sailing