Would try sailing one of these flying boats?

jssailem

SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
Oct 22, 2014
24,522
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
I just discovered (likely because I am a bit slow) this flying sailboat. IODA by Birdyfish.
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They look like tremendous fun.
 
Jan 1, 2006
7,981
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
No. SAIL had a review in the last issue. The author claimed that it is much easier to sail than imagined. He's probably a lot younger than me. Note the helmet! I can't afford to give up IQ points.
 
Sep 17, 2022
198
Catalina 22 Oolagah
No. SAIL had a review in the last issue. The author claimed that it is much easier to sail than imagined. He's probably a lot younger than me. Note the helmet! I can't afford to give up IQ points.
I agree. While this looks like fun, the potential for tremendous speed and risk is a lot more than I wish to tackle at my age.
I confess to losing interest in races like the America's cup simply because the technology has taken a lot of the seamanship out of the equation and replaced it with computer assisted sailing.

George
 
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jssailem

SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
Oct 22, 2014
24,522
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
It looks like a fun boat to enjoy a day of sailing when the water temperatures are above 70. The builders say that the boat is light and can take off on the foils at 8.5 knots or wind. :biggrin:

I guess that the helmet is a precaution. I suspect when the boat comes off its foils, the boat tends to stop, and anything not holding on goes flying. :yikes:
 
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Jan 19, 2010
12,925
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
People are putting foils on all sorts of crazy things...



I wonder what their insurance agent thinks about this...:yikes:
 

capta

.
Jun 4, 2009
5,072
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
My first boat was a Moth. Not at all like the more modern moths, more like an incredibly light 11 foot plywood scow. It flew (or what we used to call flying) around Richardson Bay, barely touching the water. But foiling? Not even a gleam a father's eye.
 
May 17, 2004
6,145
Beneteau Oceanis 37 Havre de Grace
It looks like fun to me, and probably pretty stable with the double foils. I’d give it a try. Having said that, one of the things I like about sailing is that things (usually) happen slowly enough to think ahead and deliberately plan things out. Probably not so much at planing speeds.


I confess to losing interest in races like the America's cup simply because the technology has taken a lot of the seamanship out of the equation and replaced it with computer assisted sailing.
I’ve lost interest too, but mostly because racing downwind with apparent wind angles so far forward cuts out a lot of the tactics and passing opportunities that spinnakers had. Races just become parades, dictated by who can keep the boat on the foils the best.
 
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Sep 24, 2018
4,481
Catalina 30 MKIII Chicago
I saw a video of a guy that built and installed foils on his cabin cruiser motor boat. It was shocking to see a boat of that size come out of the water. The foils were installed on the outdrive. I'm not sure how he pulled it off structurally.

A few seasons ago I witnessed someone trying to sail a small one. The guy capsized quite a bit. I'm guessing it was his first time with it as they had a watch dinghy on standby. It still looked like fun.

Are there foils on the rudder of the IODA? It seems like it'd tip forward or back without it