Considerable foil experimentation is currently taking place in 
Australia. Left: Peter Kovesi's twin-rudder T foil arrangement - 
effective but soon to be simplified. Centre and right: Garth Illet's 
solution - aft-swept anhedral bow ladder-foils, plus a single rudder 
T foil

The new 12metre Spitfire. A proprietary foil section has been designed for the boat by John Roncz of Voyager fame

Further ahead

Hydrofoil fleets are developing. Three Moths and an International 14 are now on foils in western Australia. A 40-footer is being built for coastal ocean racing. The Antipodean sailing season is drawing to an end but more hydrofoil developments are still underway.

The Moth fleet has been experimenting with various hydrofoil layouts and as yet there is no vast all-round improvement beyond the pioneering performance of Windrush last year. Brett Burvill's Windrush started life with surface-piercing Piv foils (below right), then moved to incidence-controlled main T foils. It is now back on surface piercing Piv foils, with an elevator (adjustable flap) fitted to the rudder T foil. This has greatly improved control.

Garth Illet has another novel foil arrangement that works very well (above): swept foils with anhedral angle down from the base of the stem and sweep aft to meet vertical foils descending from the wing tips. A rudder T foil provides longitudinal stability. This configuration has proven relatively easy to sail with good speed but ....See Seahorse May 2001 for the remainder of this feature

© 2001 Seahorse Magazine. All rights reserved.