Hydroptère
Encyclopedia
Sailing hydrofoil
A sailing hydrofoil, hydrofoil sailboat, or hydrosail is a sailboat with wing-like foils mounted under the hull. As the craft increases its speed the hydrofoils lift the hull up and out of the water, greatly reducing wetted area, resulting in decreased drag and increased speed...
designed by French yachtsman Alain Thébault
Alain Thébault
Alain Thébault is a French yachtsman and skipper of l'Hydroptère.With Éric Tabarly, he participated in the conception of a multihull on hydrofoils, named l'Hydroptère, with a team of engineers, many of them from the aeronautics industry.The project started in 1975 and a model on a one-third scale...
. Her multihull
Multihull
A multihull is a ship, vessel, craft or boat with more than one hull.-Description:Multihulls include: Proas, which have two differently shaped or sized hulls with lateral symmetry; catamarans, which have two hulls with longitudinal symmetry; and trimarans, which have a main hull in the center and...
hydrofoil
Hydrofoil
A hydrofoil is a foil which operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to airfoils.Hydrofoils can be artificial, such as the rudder or keel on a boat, the diving planes on a submarine, a surfboard fin, or occur naturally, as with fish fins, the flippers of aquatic mammals, the...
design allows the sail-powered vessel
Ship
Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...
to reach high speeds on water. The design is based on experience from a range of hydrofoil sailcraft that Thébault built in cooperation with the late Éric Tabarly
Éric Tabarly
Éric Tabarly was a notable French yachtsman.A former officer in the French navy who is often considered the father of French yachting....
since the 1990s. On October 5, 2008 she reached a record speed of 52.86 knots (28.8 m/s), however this was over a shorter distance than the 500m necessary to qualify for an official world record. On December 21, 2008, the Hydroptère briefly reached 56.3 knots (30.6 m/s), but capsized shortly thereafter.
On September 4, 2009, the Hydroptère broke the outright world record
Speed sailing record
Speed sailing records are sanctioned, since 1972, by the World Sailing Speed Record Council . Records are measured either by average speed over a specified distance or by total distance traveled during a specified time interval...
, sustaining a speed of 52.86 knots (28.8 m/s) for 500m in 30 knots of wind. In November 2009, she broke the 50 knot barrier for a nautical mile with a speed of 50.17 knots (27.3 m/s) in Hyères
Hyères
Hyères , Provençal Occitan: Ieras in classical norm or Iero in Mistralian norm) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France....
, France.
See also
- HydrofoilHydrofoilA hydrofoil is a foil which operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to airfoils.Hydrofoils can be artificial, such as the rudder or keel on a boat, the diving planes on a submarine, a surfboard fin, or occur naturally, as with fish fins, the flippers of aquatic mammals, the...
- Sailing hydrofoilSailing hydrofoilA sailing hydrofoil, hydrofoil sailboat, or hydrosail is a sailboat with wing-like foils mounted under the hull. As the craft increases its speed the hydrofoils lift the hull up and out of the water, greatly reducing wetted area, resulting in decreased drag and increased speed...
- World Sailing Speed Record CouncilWorld Sailing Speed Record CouncilThe World Sailing Speed Record Council, founded in 1972, is the body authorized by the International Sailing Federation to confirm speed records of sailing crafts on water . In the early years the council only dealt with claims of speed records on a one-way leg of 500 metres...
- Speed sailing recordSpeed sailing recordSpeed sailing records are sanctioned, since 1972, by the World Sailing Speed Record Council . Records are measured either by average speed over a specified distance or by total distance traveled during a specified time interval...
- Speed sailingSpeed sailingSpeed sailing is the art of sailing a craft as fast as possible over a predetermined route, and having its overall or peak speed recorded and accredited by a regulatory body. The term usually refers to sailing on water, even though sailing on land and ice is progressively faster because of the...