Whisper-a Foiling Catamaran

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by Doug Lord, Sep 13, 2014.

  1. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    The excerpt below and picture are from Yachts and Yachting/ onEdition: ( complete story here: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/178962/Geoff-Holt-unveils-the-Solent-Whisper )

    On Friday 12 September Southampton Solent graduate Geoff Holt, the first quadriplegic sailor to sail solo across the Atlantic, unveiled the University's latest exciting technological development – an innovation which could change the face of small boat inshore racing.

    This year's PSP Southampton Boat Show will give the industry its first real look at 'Solent Whisper' - a 5.9m sailing catamaran with a cutting-edge hydrofoil system.

    Designed and built using the state-of the-art yacht design and engineering facilities at Solent's Warsash Maritime Academy and city-centre campus, the catamaran's technology has already attracted attention from world-class sailors during sea trials this summer.

    The revolutionary new hydrofoil system provides stability, ease and safety, which along with an affordable projected purchase price, has the potential to offer America's Cup-style sailing to the masses. The craft's easy and stable sailing style also mean it could prove popular and accessible for disabled sailors.

    Primarily designed with ease and safety in mind, Solent Whisper has also exceeded expectations on the speed front. It comfortably achieves over 25 knots and it can 'fly' on its foils in as little as five knots of wind.

    The new hydrofoil technology is the brainchild of Ron Price, a Solent yacht and powercraft design graduate who is now Senior Lecturer in Naval Architecture at the University's Warsash Maritime Academy.

    =======================
    The modern pioneer of wand based systems for multihulls is Dr. Sam Bradfield who designed the Rave, SKAT(40') and Osprey foiling trimarans using his unique system. I had the great fortune to know Dr. Sam and to work with him one summer. We talked a lot about foiler design and it was his position that a Bradfield foiler had to have an oversquare platform to reduce the load on the foils in creating righting moment(RM). His foilers were equipped with dual independent wand systems, one for each main foil. Because they were independent, they reacted to the slightest heel of the boat increasing lift on the leeward foil and decreasing it on the windward foil. In fact, the RM generated by the widely spaced foils was so great that if the boat was sailed in too strong a wind it could break!
    All this is what makes this foiler of particular interest to me because the Whisper uses dual independent wands on a narrow platform. That's the main obvious difference between it(and the fact that it is a catamaran) and Bradfield system with the other major difference being that the crew on the Whisper is used for active movable ballast. Now, Dr. Bradfields last boat, the 18' LOA by 22' wide Osprey also uses the crew for active movable ballast but the production Rave allowed the crew to sit in the center of the boat.
    The last major designer to use a slight variation of the Bradfield system on a catamaran was Steve Killing on the C Class Rocker that turned out to be only about the same speed or slower than other C Cats. The Rocker used wands that were mounted forward on each hull(like a Moth) while the Whisper guys and Bradfield place the pivot of the wands near the center of each main foil.
    It appears that the Whisper is quite fast but the details of how they use the wand system will be interesting. On the face of it their claim that this is a new type of foiling system is flat false BUT there may be some important details regarding just how the wands work that could be very important and I look forward to understanding more about what these guys have done.

    click on picture-
     

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  2. rcnesneg
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    rcnesneg Senior Member

    Reminds me of a flying phantom. Maybe it is the red. Looks like fun though!
     
  3. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

  4. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Whisper Foiler

    Here's a picture of the first boat out of the production molds-note the integral crossarms:
    click-
     

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  5. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

  6. ch3oh
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    ch3oh Junior Member

    It's about $26500+shipping and taxes. Swedes sell it @ www.katamaranspecialisten.se. A finnish boating magazine reported briefly about the prototype being in sweden, but then again they even printed all the specs wrong..
     
  7. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

  8. paxfish
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    paxfish Junior Member

    So, what's the best GPS speed thus far on this thing?
     
  9. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Not as far as I know, but the Rave was a 16' production, heavy, wand based foiler and it was clocked at over 30 knots more than 12 years ago.
     
  10. noli
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    noli Junior Member

    .

    What is the weight as pictured below without and rigging and without foils, just the bare hull?

    What is the price of bare hull as pictured below without any rigging and without any foils ?


    [​IMG]
     
  11. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

  12. Erwan
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    Erwan Senior Member

    It could be a perfect base for the next A-Cat generation
     
  13. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

  14. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Last edited: Dec 11, 2015

  15. Doug Lord
    Joined: May 2009
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Whisper 20

    Whisper specs from the UK dealer.Previously, the LOA was quoted as anywhere from 17.75' to 18',to 19.35'! This should be "official".(metric converted by DL)
    Of all the new foilers out now this is the one I would buy above all others!

    SOLENT WHISPER SPECIFICATIONS:

    LOA: (incl bowsprit) 6.2m/20.34'
    --
    Beam: 2.3m/7.5'
    --
    Foil length: 1.0m/3.28'
    --
    Max ride height: 800mm/2.6'
    --
    Weight: 80kg/176lb.All up weight: 98kg/215.6lb.
    --
    Crew weight: 150kg/330lb
    --
    Upwind SA:173sq.ft.
    --
    Mainsail: 12.9sq m/138.8sq.ft
    --
    Jib: 3.2sq m/34.4 sq.ft
    --
    Spi: 13.5sq m/145 sq.ft
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2015
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