After 3 years of nights and weekends researching and designing hydrofoils, learning how to hot wire foam, make mold plugs, make molds from said plugs, learning how to do resin infusion, creating hinges and control mechanisms, and lots of sanding, my carbon fiber hydrofoils for my Laser lifted off for the first time!
Yes, that’s a wand connected via teleflex to the main foil, actuating the flap on the back of the foil.
I’ll post video as soon as I get some. I had two people with cameras shooting away for a while to get those shots. Gonna try to borrow a GoPro or something with good image stabilization for the next time. I’m shooting for Tuesday or Wednesday here, since that’s the next time the wind is forecast to get to 11-12 knots. It’ll definitely fly in 12 knots, but since I’m 225 lbs, 11 knots is hit or miss depending on how long the gust lasts.
I was wondering if you performed CFD simulations in designing the foils? Your foils seem to have a higher aspect ratio than the commercial ones.
I was also wondering how the load of the hydrofoil is transferred to the hull.
This is such a fascinating project!
I'm not likely to build one of these any time soon....
but
I'd love to know the details of your process and what do you plan next?
Wings perhaps...
Maybe you've created a new class, "Flying Lasers"
You can create a YouTube account for free then upload your video files to there.I have seen that some forum members put their contributions on Vimeo. Would that be an option?
You can create a YouTube account for free then upload your video files to there.
- Andy
Yes, impressive undertaking!
How do your foils compare to the (commercially available) Glide Free ones?
I have never had a chance to try foiling, but have read that the Glide Free version only allows foiling on reaches, preferably on a Radial (I don't understand why that is).