SeSH-April21-Cover hi res.qxp_Cover 07.qxdahorse 16/02/2021 13:12 Page 2

Issue 494 £6.50 US$8.50

Bob Fisher – A Giant Golden opportunity – Rod Davis Stress-free foiling – Dirk Kramers Changing the world – Stan Honey Where next Imoca – Juan K Laws of physics – Andy Claughton

APRIL 2021 ISSN 0143-246X 1,000-mile layline The official – Yannick Bestaven magazine of the 04 Royal Ocean Racing Club 9 770143 246146 Technology

problem remained. ‘After building keeping secrets,’ Jim says. ‘Their prototypes with carbon frames and CEO, Danu Chotikapanich, said to stringers like I used to in the me ‘we will never tell anyone how days, I realised there was no way I your boats are built. If someone could make this into a production wants us to make a similar one, boat,’ Jim says. ‘Just like a Moth, it they will have to design it.’ would be way too expensive.’ But he Jim and David built the plugs in had a solution. Earlier in his career, Australia and sent them to Thailand, Coming to a store near you Jim had spent a while developing where the moulds were made and custom-made race the boats went into production – first boards for Olympic Gold Medalists a limited run of twenty 11ft Skeeta Bruce Kendal and Bruce Wylie, who prototypes in 2018, which were all ... the best of all worlds is now of Watersports at Cobra. snapped up by Quant Boats, and He knew that the EPS-cored epoxy then full production of a refined 12ft construction of sailboards would design at a rate of around 50 per We have long been huge fans of the Skeeta production foiler, fast, light the water and skip back up again.’ : Skeeta work just as well for a and it’s month. ‘It’s really good to be in a A further benefit is the ability for production at ideal for large production runs. situation where we can expand and... user friendly! Now Skeeta and their builders Cobra International sailors to easily adjust their ride Cobra’s huge ‘Jim and I first worked together in production as the market grows height on the , partially retracting factory in the mid-1980s,’ Wylie recalls. ‘It is and potentially scale up to building have something for those (lucky) kids too Chonburi, the wand to reduce their elevation Thailand. great to be collaborating again, thousands of boats per year,’ he Since 1999, when Dr Ian Ward and carbon composite components for Above: the easy to as a or and and stay in control in very strong or The boats are combining Jim and David’s decades says. With efficient production the John Ilett independently put larger craft. On a tour of the Cobra Skeeta foiling yet remarkably quick. In foiling mode gusty winds. built with an of expertise with the unique Skeeta’s current retail price is less centreline foils on International site you would easily come across scow is it’s nearly as fast as a cutting-edge Another benefit of the Skeeta and EPS foam craftsmanship and volume than half the cost of a Moth, with Moths and revolutionised the sport of boards and parts for Hobie, , designed to Moth – you can expect around 18kts Nikki designs is their weight-carrying core and a manufacturing capabilities at Cobra.’ high-spec hardware and top-quality offer all the , some of the greatest NSP, Starboard and more. Outside of boatspeed in 8kts of breeze and ability. ‘A stayed with adjustable single shot, ‘It was great to reconnect with from Doyle. thrills of an closed mould innovators in small craft design have the marine industry they’re a major International up to 30kts in optimum conditions spreaders is the only way you can epoxy Bruce after all these years,’ Jim says. The future’s looking bright for been chasing the Holy Grail. The supplier of prepreg carbon parts for Moth without – but it’s much easier to handle. manipulate the rig to suit your crew lamination ‘They have been great at giving us the Skeeta Foiling Craft and Cobra challenge was to develop a foiling premium automotive and motorcycle the violent Its unique, fully articulating and weight,’ David French says. ‘With an process. exactly what we need. I already had a International partnership with strong dinghy that delivers the same levels brands and are also active in various spills, thanks freely pivoting on the unstayed mast you just can’t do it, Above: the fair idea of what was needed strength demand for both models. Melges is of performance and exhilaration other sectors including electric to its unique gives a gentler ride which is why people who sail most Skeeta’s little wise and torsional stiffness wise, so marketing the boats in the US, fully articulat- while also being less fragile and boards, civil engineering, UST drones than other foiling systems while types of singlehanded dinghy are all sister Nikki I worked with the Cobra team and Quant Boats in and GP ing centre- now brings complex than a Moth, much less and even robotics. board foil greatly reducing the risk of violent the same size. We also have three the fun of we came up with a specification.’ Watercraft in the UK. ‘Other difficult to sail and affordable enough While other designs have which makes crashes and pitchpoling. It also different sail sizes for the Skeeta foiling to ‘It’s got stringers, high-density distributors will be appointed in due to suit the average sailor’s budget. addressed some of the Moth’s the boat avoids the need to adjust the and Nikki to encompass as many the kids too. foam areas, unidirectionals, you course,’ Jim French says. Jim and David French, a father-and- inherent drawbacks, Jim French easier for foil’s angle of attack while sailing. different crew weights as we can.’ Top right: name it,’ David says. ‘There’s a lot Cobra, meanwhile, also continues son team from Melbourne, Australia says the Skeeta ‘has gone further average ‘It’s still relatively unknown that The boom vang track is also a key Cobra also of structure in there and the build to push the boundaries of composite sailors to realised they’d cracked it in 2016 to solving most of them'. He and the flap on a foil causes lots of innovation, which greatly reduces the builds the recipe is quite involved, but it uses engineering with encapsulated master. With electric with their Skeeta design, a beautifully David have also created a scaled- Cobra’s problems,’ Jim French explains. forces acting on the mast. ‘The rig for foiling the same methods as the sailboards electronics in groundbreaking simple flying scow. The next step was down version designed for kids, the efficient ‘With a flap, the front part of the foil a foiling boat has to be completely Fliteboard and we’re very pleased with the products such as the Flite electric- to find a manufacturer for large-scale Nikki. Thanks to their relative production, is always in laminar flow but if it’s different,’ Jim French says. You need and other results.’ Cobra uses a moulded EPS powered foiling surfboard, and was production and the best candidate simplicity, both boats can easily be the Skeeta angled downwards as the boat’s triple the amount of leech tension. watersports foam core blank, assembled with a recently involved in building the was Cobra International. rigged and launched in 15 minutes, is also a crashing, it will keep pulling the boat An OK dinghy has up to 25kg of products mixture of woven and biaxial prototype for the Seabubble electric lot more Unless you’re into board sports, but the most obvious difference downwards until the goes tension in the leech, for the Skeeta featuring glassfibre, localised carbon fibre foiling water taxi. They’re also affordable integrated Cobra International could well be the between these and most other foiling than most underwater and the boat does a it’s around 80kg. In a foiler if you electronics reinforcements and G-10 inserts, all renewing their focus on the OEM biggest boatbuilder you’ve never is that they have other foiling somersault. With the whole foil don’t have a controlled mast and a wet laminated into closed vacuum market for composite structures, heard of. Based in Thailand with form, rather than a narrow dinghies moving instead, it can save itself very tight leech, you’ll end up falling female moulds. With hull weights of foils and components in marine about 100,000 square metres of shape. That makes them inherently from a crash. With our system, as in to windward all the time. As soon just 32kg (Skeeta) and 23kg (Nikki), applications. With their technology, hi-tech production facilities and a more stable and forgiving. soon as the wand senses the bow as you get the apparent wind up, the boats are impressively light but marine experience, production highly skilled workforce of 2,500, In displacement sailing mode going down it flips the foil up and the top of the sail being fanned out also extremely strong and stiff. expertise and economy of scale, they currently produce about 80 per with the foils unclipped from its the whole foil is lifting. If the foil acts as a windward lever and just ‘Because they build so many it makes a lot of sense. cent of the world’s windsurfers, large centreboard and rudder, the Skeeta becomes ventilated or breaches pushes the mast to windward.’ different brands of the world’s best www.cobrainter.com numbers of surf and SUP boards, and is suitable for novices, almost as the surface, the hull will just touch With their design now proven, one sailboards, Cobra are very good at www.skeetafoilingcraft.com q

78 SEAHORSE SEAHORSE 79 Technology

problem remained. ‘After building keeping secrets,’ Jim says. ‘Their prototypes with carbon frames and CEO, Danu Chotikapanich, said to stringers like I used to in the Moth me ‘we will never tell anyone how days, I realised there was no way I your boats are built. If someone could make this into a production wants us to make a similar one, boat,’ Jim says. ‘Just like a Moth, it they will have to design it.’ would be way too expensive.’ But he Jim and David built the plugs in had a solution. Earlier in his career, Australia and sent them to Thailand, Coming to a store near you Jim had spent a while developing where the moulds were made and custom-made windsurfing race the boats went into production – first boards for Olympic Gold Medalists a limited run of twenty 11ft Skeeta Bruce Kendal and Bruce Wylie, who prototypes in 2018, which were all ... the best of all worlds is now head of Watersports at Cobra. snapped up by Quant Boats, and He knew that the EPS-cored epoxy then full production of a refined 12ft construction of sailboards would design at a rate of around 50 per We have long been huge fans of the Skeeta production foiler, fast, light the water and skip back up again.’ Top: Skeeta work just as well for a scow and it’s month. ‘It’s really good to be in a A further benefit is the ability for production at ideal for large production runs. situation where we can expand and... user friendly! Now Skeeta and their builders Cobra International sailors to easily adjust their ride Cobra’s huge ‘Jim and I first worked together in production as the market grows height on the fly, partially retracting factory in the mid-1980s,’ Wylie recalls. ‘It is and potentially scale up to building have something for those (lucky) kids too Chonburi, the wand to reduce their elevation Thailand. great to be collaborating again, thousands of boats per year,’ he Since 1999, when Dr Ian Ward and carbon composite components for Above: the easy to sail as a Topper or Laser and and stay in control in very strong or The boats are combining Jim and David’s decades says. With efficient production the John Ilett independently put larger craft. On a tour of the Cobra Skeeta foiling yet remarkably quick. In foiling mode gusty winds. built with an of expertise with the unique Skeeta’s current retail price is less centreline foils on International site you would easily come across scow is it’s nearly as fast as a cutting-edge Another benefit of the Skeeta and EPS foam craftsmanship and volume than half the cost of a Moth, with Moths and revolutionised the sport of boards and parts for Hobie, Phantom, designed to Moth – you can expect around 18kts Nikki designs is their weight-carrying core and a manufacturing capabilities at Cobra.’ high-spec hardware and top-quality offer all the dinghy sailing, some of the greatest NSP, Starboard and more. Outside of boatspeed in 8kts of breeze and ability. ‘A stayed mast with adjustable single shot, ‘It was great to reconnect with sails from Doyle. thrills of an closed mould innovators in small craft design have the marine industry they’re a major International up to 30kts in optimum conditions spreaders is the only way you can epoxy Bruce after all these years,’ Jim says. The future’s looking bright for been chasing the Holy Grail. The supplier of prepreg carbon parts for Moth without – but it’s much easier to handle. manipulate the rig to suit your crew lamination ‘They have been great at giving us the Skeeta Foiling Craft and Cobra challenge was to develop a foiling premium automotive and motorcycle the violent Its unique, fully articulating and weight,’ David French says. ‘With an process. exactly what we need. I already had a International partnership with strong dinghy that delivers the same levels brands and are also active in various spills, thanks freely pivoting foil on the unstayed mast you just can’t do it, Above: the fair idea of what was needed strength demand for both models. Melges is of performance and exhilaration other sectors including electric to its unique centreboard gives a gentler ride which is why people who sail most Skeeta’s little wise and torsional stiffness wise, so marketing the boats in the US, fully articulat- while also being less fragile and boards, civil engineering, UST drones than other foiling systems while types of singlehanded dinghy are all sister Nikki I worked with the Cobra team and Quant Boats in Europe and GP ing centre- now brings complex than a Moth, much less and even robotics. board foil greatly reducing the risk of violent the same size. We also have three the fun of we came up with a specification.’ Watercraft in the UK. ‘Other difficult to sail and affordable enough While other designs have which makes crashes and pitchpoling. It also different sail sizes for the Skeeta foiling to ‘It’s got stringers, high-density distributors will be appointed in due to suit the average sailor’s budget. addressed some of the Moth’s the boat avoids the need to adjust the rudder and Nikki to encompass as many the kids too. foam areas, unidirectionals, you course,’ Jim French says. Jim and David French, a father-and- inherent drawbacks, Jim French easier for foil’s angle of attack while sailing. different crew weights as we can.’ Top right: name it,’ David says. ‘There’s a lot Cobra, meanwhile, also continues son team from Melbourne, Australia says the Skeeta ‘has gone further average ‘It’s still relatively unknown that The boom vang track is also a key Cobra also of structure in there and the build to push the boundaries of composite sailors to realised they’d cracked it in 2016 to solving most of them'. He and the flap on a foil causes lots of innovation, which greatly reduces the builds the recipe is quite involved, but it uses engineering with encapsulated master. With electric with their Skeeta design, a beautifully David have also created a scaled- Cobra’s problems,’ Jim French explains. forces acting on the mast. ‘The rig for foiling the same methods as the sailboards electronics in groundbreaking simple flying scow. The next step was down version designed for kids, the efficient ‘With a flap, the front part of the foil a foiling boat has to be completely Fliteboard and we’re very pleased with the products such as the Flite electric- to find a manufacturer for large-scale Nikki. Thanks to their relative production, is always in laminar flow but if it’s different,’ Jim French says. You need and other results.’ Cobra uses a moulded EPS powered foiling surfboard, and was production and the best candidate simplicity, both boats can easily be the Skeeta angled downwards as the boat’s triple the amount of leech tension. watersports foam core blank, assembled with a recently involved in building the was Cobra International. rigged and launched in 15 minutes, is also a crashing, it will keep pulling the boat An OK dinghy has up to 25kg of products mixture of woven and biaxial prototype for the Seabubble electric lot more Unless you’re into board sports, but the most obvious difference downwards until the bow goes tension in the leech, for the Skeeta featuring glassfibre, localised carbon fibre foiling water taxi. They’re also affordable integrated Cobra International could well be the between these and most other foiling than most underwater and the boat does a it’s around 80kg. In a foiler if you electronics reinforcements and G-10 inserts, all renewing their focus on the OEM biggest boatbuilder you’ve never dinghies is that they have a scow hull other foiling somersault. With the whole foil don’t have a controlled mast and a wet laminated into closed vacuum market for composite structures, heard of. Based in Thailand with form, rather than a narrow skiff dinghies moving instead, it can save itself very tight leech, you’ll end up falling female moulds. With hull weights of foils and components in marine about 100,000 square metres of shape. That makes them inherently from a crash. With our system, as in to windward all the time. As soon just 32kg (Skeeta) and 23kg (Nikki), applications. With their technology, hi-tech production facilities and a more stable and forgiving. soon as the wand senses the bow as you get the apparent wind up, the boats are impressively light but marine experience, production highly skilled workforce of 2,500, In displacement sailing mode going down it flips the foil up and the top of the sail being fanned out also extremely strong and stiff. expertise and economy of scale, they currently produce about 80 per with the foils unclipped from its the whole foil is lifting. If the foil acts as a windward lever and just ‘Because they build so many it makes a lot of sense. cent of the world’s windsurfers, large centreboard and rudder, the Skeeta becomes ventilated or breaches pushes the mast to windward.’ different brands of the world’s best www.cobrainter.com numbers of surf and SUP boards, and is suitable for novices, almost as the surface, the hull will just touch With their design now proven, one sailboards, Cobra are very good at www.skeetafoilingcraft.com q

78 SEAHORSE SEAHORSE 79