Principle"Le Foilboard" consists in a standard sailboard with hydrofoils connected beneath it.
For this first project, it is an old 80's custom funboard with following characteristics:
Lenth : 2.90 m (9.5 feet)
Width : 0.59 m (1.9 feet)
Volume : about 110 liters
(6713 cubic inches)
The board has a narrow
stern because it is an old design. Modern boards have a wider stern.
In fact the board
shape is not very important because, when the board is running, it has
to "fly" on its hydrofoils without hull/water contact.
The board I used
had a very important advantage: It was FREE.
The hydrofoils apparatus consists of :
1- An inverted
T main foil fitted at the board rear.
2- A planing
surface fitted at the board front (called "canard")
This "canard"
works at the air/water interface and so is able to track the water surface
at any speeds (except if the speed is too low to take off)
This apparatus
controls the height of the bow to give a good pitching balance.
The "canard"
width gives the rolling stability.
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