l'hydroptere.ch

Thats just life with racing boats built to a tight weight budget nothing new to see. There is a calculation made of the perceived loadings and then if it breaks make it just a little stronger. They will put it back together, it will work and I look forward to their future achievements.

 

Video showing the hull break courtesy of SA news page

 

Whoops! Hard to tell whether the lee bow went down and then snapped or whether it all happened in one moment. Wonder if the step had anything to do with it?

 

Yeah agreed it's really hard to tell what happened except that it was very sudden. It didn't seem like there was much wave action but I guess even chop could cause a spike in the loadings and a break.

 

Broke just aft of the foil case - that's pretty close to where the step was/is.

 

Hydroptere.ch team have fixed their cat and are ready to have another go at the Lake Geneva Blue Ribbon record.

http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=108246

 

Their record attempt was again interrupted by gear failure this time on the mainsail. Sounds like the normal travails of lightweight record challengers.

http://www.hydros.ch/en/news/137-valiant-attempt-on-the-blue-ribbon-course

 

Hydroptere.ch

Great picture from The Daily Sail by Loris van Siebenthal. Interesting that the boat works both as a stepped planing hull and foiler. They are always used together-and that fact just dawned on me. You can see the variable geometery bow steps deployed as well as the foils:

click-

 

relaunched for the new season on Lake Geneva. Maybe they will claim that elusive Blue Ribbon record this season?

 

Quite radical changes. New lower stepped bows, extended stern section/rudders - how long is the cat now? 12m? Is the step gone - or just closed in this photograph? Like their "lets go for it" design approach.

 

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The rudder gantries were there last year. Don't know about the step now.
UPDATE: watch this video-the little bow sort of slides up the big bow to create the step but there is more to it: they are funneling air in so that it comes out of the step:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=filusHvilvk&list=UUSAKnb75guKGAayxKGkT10Q&index=1

 

The Hydros team have made another attempt at the Lake Geneva Blue Ribbon record on Hydroptere.ch, a good effort but they fell short by 27 minutes on the record set by a Decision 35 skippered by Philippe Cardis

http://www.hydros.ch/actualites/229-nouvelle-tentative-de-ruban-bleu-pour-l-hydroptere-ch

 

The rules for the Ruban Bleu (and other Lake Geneva records):

The challenge is open to all boats that qualify to enter the Bol d'Or. They aren't allowed to use routing, only publicly available weather info. There is a money prize of CHF 3000 for the best run of the year (2000 for the 2nd, 1000 for the 3rd) and a further 2000 if a boat should break the record. The challenge is not in effect during the Bol d'Or itself.

Given the money on offer, it surprises me a little that there are not more attempts being made.

Also there are money prizes (from the SYZ&Co bank) for the hour record, and the kilometer record. Hydroptere jr. won both of those last year with speeds of 21.32 and 29.18 knots.

Records page



... And everyone has to stay onboard for the whole race!


....

PS. I see that the specs for Hydroptere jr. give the length of the hulls as being 10.85m. That is the maximum allowed length for the M1 class in the Bol d'Or, so those rudders with long extensions for the rudder casings on Hydroptere are making use of an interesting loophole.

 

The l'Hydroptere.ch and the Hydros team have now claimed the blue ribbon record. It's nice to see their persistence has paid off.

http://www.hydros.ch/actualites/247-hydros-bat-le-record-du-ruban-bleu-a-bord-de-l-hydroptere-ch

here is the rough translate from the article.

Hydros beats the record of the Blue Ribbon on board the Hydrofoil. Ch


Hydros beat this afternoon Leman Ruban Bleu record on the route Geneva (Port Black) - Le Bouveret - Geneva 4:45 (subject to approval of the Cercle de la Voile Société Nautique de Genève).

Geneva, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013. - The flying boat Hydrofoil the PS led by Daniel Schmäh just beat the record for the Blue Ribbon between the Port and the Black Bouveret, the theoretical distance of 66.5 nautical miles (123 km). It improves by eight minutes the time set by Philippe Cardis in Decision 35 in 2007.

"We had great wind conditions today," says Daniel Schmäh, skipper of the Hydrofoil. C. "The wind held the top lake, which is quite rare and has been lacking in recent attempts. We broke a rudder on the back, but have decided to continue because we were in a good timing. We have learned from many banks saw the wind direction, which is the more extended distance. "

Sustained by Lombard Odier & Cie team was not his first test since he had already made ​​several attempts to break the record this year, without success. Winning valid for three years of technological development this record, the Hydrofoil. Hp and is the third ship to join the winners of the Blue Ribbon.

Crew of Hydrofoil ch Tuesday, August 20, 2013:. Schmäh Daniel (skipper), Antoine Anceau Yves Courvoisier, Stéphane Dyen, William Coyon

© Loris von Siebenthal / Hydros

 

More like: 'we had to do a lot of tacking due to the wind direction, which moreover increased the distance sailed'.

... But I still think these guys were wimps, in that they didn't enter the Bol d'Or!