Capable of Foiling at any Speed

(April 1, 2014) – Foiling developments have dominated the headlines recently. As well as the pioneering Moth, some production beach cats are already making foiling accessible. And more are poised to appear on the market soon.

Different solutions have been devised and refined to achieve stability and make handling easy and safe. But what do all these foiling types have in common? They are like fixed-wing aircraft: a long runway is required to build up the speed necessary to ‘pop up’ on the foils. Then, if speed ever decreases below a critical value, the hull splashes down and the process must be repeated.

Pioneering visionaries such as Leonardo da Vinci, Igor Sikorsky and Ali G have all dreamt of flight with the freedom to take off and land vertically, slow down and even hover.

Based on these visions we are proud to present the HoverFoiler™. Using two rotating hydrofans™ this unique vessel is capable of foiling at any speed. Imagine the freedom of sitting on the starting line, already up on foils. All you have to do is push forward on the cyclic lever when the countdown hits zero. Unlike your competitors who must accelerate to takeoff speed, you are already at minimum drag so they will be left floundering in your wake.

Lift can be generated in two different ways. For vertical takeoff and sustained hover, the fans can be powered by grinders. But for those who are not into the full-on physical style of sailing, lift can be achieved through a combination of differential drag and rotor momentum in a way similar to an autogyro (AKA gyrocopter). This proven concept of an unpowered lift rotor is successfully implemented in the revolutionary HoverFoiler™.

Control is easy for anyone with a valid helicopter license. Instead of a conventional tiller the boat is fitted with a cyclic lever and a collective lever. The collective manipulates blade pitch while the cyclic tilts the rotors to vector their lift in the desired direction (left, right, forward or even backward for those priceless tactical moves).

HoverFoiler™ will have wide applications. We have already started testing it as a way to support pontoons in (previously) floating marinas. Fitting your jetty with the HoverFoiler™ system will make scraping off marine growth a thing of the past.

Follow this and other more realistic innovations at www.carbonicboats.com