Monitor- 1950's Monofoiler

Discussion in 'Sailboats' started by Doug Lord, Jul 22, 2014.

  1. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    This is the first video of the boat I've ever seen and there are some cool renderings with this video.
    Some more info on the boat from foils.org:
    11 Jan 98] The following is an extract from a book that I wrote some years ago about hydrofoils. From "Ships That Fly" : MONITOR -- All of Gordon Baker's mechanical genius was not expended on military hydrofoil applications. About 1950 he was interested in using hydrofoils for sailing purposes, having built a three V-foil cat boat with an airplane foil configuration (two foils forward and one aft). This craft attained remarkable speeds while beating into the wind reaching 20 knots. Speed ratios of over 1.5 times the real wind velocity were recorded. However, it had a tendency to "pitch pole" when running before the wind and would go into "irons" when coming about. These undesirable characteristics led Baker, with US Navy backing, to develop the MONITOR, a sloop with two ladder foils forward and a submerged foil aft. The forces of all the stays were fed into a mechanical computer. Based on these inputs, the computer determined and then set, through a linkage system, the appropriate angle of attack on the aft foil for the wind in which the boat was sailing. This solved the problem of pitch-polling and made it possible to come about and stay on the foils. MONITOR first flew in 1955 and a pace boat clocked her at 25 knots. In October of the following year she was paced at 30.4 knots. It was reported that MONITOR attained speed to true wind speed ratios of just over 2.0, and at times unofficial boat speed measurements close to 40 knots were observed. It is interesting to note that the U.S. Navy backing of MONITOR was motivated by its objective to learn more about the foil structural characteristics and construction methods used by Baker. Recommended references: Baker, G.G., "Design of Hydrofoil Boats with Particular Reference to Optimum Conditions for Operating in Waves", Baker Manufacturing Co., Engineering Report No. 248, July 29, 1960. Also, Alexander, Alan F., et al, "Hydrofoil Sailing", Juanita Kalerghi, 51 Welbeck Street, London, 1972. -- John Meyer (jmeyer@erols.com)



    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w61UZveer7g
     
  2. sharpii2
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    sharpii2 Senior Member

    Very interesting, Doug.

    Amazing.

    Hydrofoils have been in the future for almost sixty years?
     
  3. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

  4. Richard Woods
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    Richard Woods Woods Designs

    I'm sure you, Doug, have, like me, seen the Monitor on display at the Newport News Mariners Museum, and of course Tony Marchaj wrote about it in his first book

    Richard Woods
     
  5. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Monitor

    You'd be wrong , Richard. Maybe someday.
     
  6. Andy P
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    Andy P Junior Member

    How many foils?
    mono foiler has one - like a unicycle ( OK you don't say monocycle)
    bi foiler has two - like a bicycle
    tri foiler has 3 - like a tricycle.

    Monitor has three (sets of ladder foils ) - so is a tri foiler.
     
  7. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    It's very simple: it's a monohull foiler or monofoiler for short. Monofoilers can have different foil systems and that doesn't change their monohull status. Like Brett Burvills Moth with two surface piercing main foils. It's still a monofoiler.
    You wouldn't call an AC 72 with three foils in the water a trifoiler?
    The Hobie Trifoiler ,Rave and Osprey below each have three distinct hulls so they're trifoilers:
     

    Attached Files:


  8. Doug Lord
    Joined: May 2009
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    Location: Cocoa, Florida

    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Discovered this old document written by the designer/builder about Monitor this morning. I checked this thread to see if the document was already here-it wasn't so now it is. Apropos given the emergence of the NZAC 75 monofoiler in the next Americas Cup!

    Memorable quote from JG Baker, Designer and Builder of the Monitor foiler in the 1950's:
    " The main need is to lower the wind velocities required for flying in order to increase the opportunities for high speed travel."
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Aug 6, 2018
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