In 1995,
I helped a friend to build a custom sailboard. The goal was to obtain a
board with modern lines at moderate cost. As we finished the board,
we realized the price of a good commercial fin was disproportionate compared
to the cost of our board. So I started to study and to build some fins.
After testing many profiles and construction technics, I settled on a fin
design of moulded fibers/resin manufacture that met my requirements for
structural strength and for being "spinout proof."
This successful
result was obtained for a reasonable cost, so all goals were met.
In 1997, after
reading a sailboard review, I produced a hydrofoil fin whose function was
not to raise the board completely out of the water, but rather to help
it begin planing. This foil was fitted into the original fin box
of a 1990 SHREDDER Mistral board (length 298 cm/9.8 feet, width 59 cm/1.9
feet, narrow rear). After some tinkering (particularly with the foil's
angle of attack) I got promising performance. I could start planing with
8/9 knots of wind speed and a rather old 7,4 m²/80 square feet sail,
(I weigh 90 kg/199 pounds). This could not be done with the same board
without the foil.
In June 1999,
I met a group of young undergraduates at the "Ecole Nationale Supèrieure
de Chimie et de Physique de Bordeaux" which had as a project to study
and to build a hydrofoil sailboard that would successfully take off and
sail on its foils. Of course, I jumped at the chance to associate
myself with this project. I decided that, while the team was conducting
their initial theoretical study, I would use my earlier practical experiments
to produce a first prototype to narrow down the range of problems, thus
helping to develop a successful design and construction method.
Thus was born
"Le FOILBOARD" idea. |
Project story