The NEWS LETTER International Hydrofoil Society PO Box 51 - Cabin John MD 20818 - USA
Editor: John Meyer Fourth Quarter 2013 Sailing Editor: Martin Grimm RECREATIONAL HYDROFOIL SUSTAINING MEMBERS CRAFT By Ray Vellinga, IHS Member
Harry Larsen’s recreational Talaria IV represents the state of the art for ALL hydrofoil craft. Undoubtedly those are fighting words for battalions of retired Boeing, Lockheed and Grumman engineers. Of course, their computers had less power and memory than your smart phone, and on occasions they were forced to fabricate foils and struts from relatively heavy steel. Today’s Talaria has submerged forward and aft foils of carbon and glass fiber. Her stability and control system is way beyond the mili- tary and commercial behemoths of yesteryear. Harry’s custom-built solid state digital computer controls roll, pitch, height, and yaw rate. Only turning is manually controlled, by the steering wheel, and the HAVE YOU PAID YOUR computer balances the turn by rolling into it. Two splayed ultrasonic 2013 IHS DUES? IF NOT, height sensors at THEY ARE OVERDUE the bow provide See Full Announcement on input to the com- Page 12 puter to activate servo valves that are piped to hy- INSIDE THIS ISSUE draulic actuators. The hydraulic - President’s Column...... p.2 cylinders contin- - Welcome New Members. . . p. 2 uously adjust the flaps and the - IHS at HIPER 2013...... p.6 forward foil’s an- Talaria IV foilborne on Lake Washington gle of attack. In - TWIN VEE...... p.6 addition, through - IHS Needs Your Help.....p.7 this computer link, as flying speed increases the angle of attack of the main-foil flaps is reduced to maintain a constant hull pitch. - From the Board Room....p.8 See Recreational Hydrofoils, Page 3 - Sailor’s Page...... p.10 WELCOME NEW MEMBERS
PRESIDENT’S COLUMN Ronald K. Kiss - Mr. Kiss is Presi- dent Emeritus of the American So- To all IHS Members website and questions can be sent ciety of Naval Engineers, and a to: [email protected]. I urge all member of the Society since 1969, As noted on the IHS website, we IHS members to forward informa- served two terms on Council have embarked on a wide range of tion on the prize to others who may (1979-80, and 1984-85) and was initiatives aimed at increasing be interested. Best of luck to all elected Vice President in 1998. A awareness of hydrofoil and hydro- those who compete! Planning con- life member, he has served on the foil related technology develop- tinued for the Navy Hydrofoil Re- Awards Committee for six years in- ments around the world. The Board union to be held in Key West on cluding a period as Chairman. Most has had lengthy discussions and 20-23 September 2013. The next recently he served as a member of concluded that it is critical to in- issue of the Newsletter will include the Joint Strategic Alliance Com- volve the membership to accom- a Reunion report. As noted on the mittee from 2005 to 2008. He has plish these objectives. There is website, IHS participated for a sec- presented several papers at ASNE simply too much work to be done to ond year at the Tacoma Maritime Day and been a banquet speaker at rely totally on the Board members. Fest on 24-25 August 2013. Fest in- ASNE symposia. Accordingly, I encourage and so- formation can be found at: licit your active involvement in the http://www.maritimefest.org Ray A graduate of Webb Institute, he work of the Society. Vellinga has provided a report and earned a Master’s degree in naval Many of these support activities can photos; see page 9. Thanks to Ray, architecture from the University of be done at home over the internet or we now have a new photo section California, Berkeley. After a nine- phone and can be at any level of en- on the website – just click on the teen-year career at the Maritime gagement that volunteers are will- “Photos New” button. Administration where he last served as Acting Associate administrator ing and able to provide, either On 13 June, the Board of Directors for Shipbuilding and Ship Opera- one-off or ongoing. I urge all of you held a regular meeting, at which tions, he joined NAVSEAas Assis- to consider where you might help in several initiatives were discussed, tant Deputy Commander for furthering these efforts. Please con- including plans for a permanent hy- Surface Ship Acquisition in 1982. tact me at: [email protected] if drofoil exhibit at the Washington He was serving as Deputy Assistant you’re interested. Navy Yard. This is covered in more Secretary for Ship Programs in detail by Joel Billingsley on page 8. Since the last issue of the Newslet- 1996 when he retired. After serving On the subject of new members, we ter, we had a Joint Dinner Meeting as Vice President for systems devel- urge all of you to recruit colleagues on 30 May 2013 with SNAME opment at Syntek, he returned to and others to increase our numbers Panel SD-5 at the Army-Navy Webb Institute in 1998 as Executive and bring new talent into the Soci- Country Club. The technical pre- Vice President. He became presi- ety. Our goal is to exceed last year’s sentation given by Philip Wasinger dent in 1999 and served in that role numbers by a reasonable amount. of MAN Diesel North America was for six years and is now President, As always, please consider your on “LNG Fuel for Advanced Emeritus. Ships”. The meeting was well at- Newsletter Editor’s plea for volun- tended and the complete presenta- teers to provide articles of interest Since retirement from Webb, he has tion is posted at: www.foils.org. to our members and readers. Please been engaged in consulting and pro e-mail material to John Meyer at bono activities such as serving on We have continued to publicize the [email protected]. John will be the Marine Board of the National Mandles Prize for Hydrofoil Excel- pleased to hear from you. Academy of Science (NAS), serv- lence. Background for the Mandles ing on or Chairing NAS study com- Prize and Rules for the competition Best regards, can be downloaded from our Mark Bebar, IHS President Continued on Page 12
Page 2 IHS Fourth Quarter 2013 RECREATIONAL HYDROFOILS This flying machine was at the cut- (Continued From Page 1) ting edge of personal watercraft de- velopment. In fact, the product was To summarize briefly the history of successful with over 500 units sold recreational hydrofoils up to today, at prices up to $3,500 before pro- here is an excerpt, including extra duction ended in August 1980. photos, from Chapter 1 of Hydrofoils: Design, Build, Fly (available at Ama- zon.com): The first personal fun hy-
Hifybe, High Flying Banana recently. Meacham Boat DynaFoil in action The Hi-Foil, shown below, was mar- drofoil was probably created by the keted about 1970 by Anglican Devel- A prototype sailboat called the Avo- Meacham Brothers, Chicago, be- opment Ltd on the Isle of Wight. This cet was the product of a joint effort tween 1895 and 1916. British personal hydrofoil seats 2, has between Greg Ketterman, an Ameri- motorcycle steering, and is powered Personal hydrofoils. concurrent with can entrepreneur, and Yamaha Mo- by a 25 hp long shaft outboard motor. the Navy’s program, private industry tors’sR&DCenter led by Kotaro and individuals developed various Horiuchi. The Avocet evolved into small personal hydrofoils, including the TriFoiler and Ketterman’s com- several prototypes created by the au- pany, thor.
Hi-Foil 30
Early (failed) attempt by the Shortly thereafter, in Orange County, author to create a flying California, David Cline was creating motorcycle. the Dyna-foil. The Avocet Trifoiler
Hobie Cat, Co. manufactured them in the 1990s. Both trimarans have two mainsails, one on each outrigger. In 1993 the Avocet boat set a class A re- cord of 43.55 knots over a 500 meter course in Tarrifa, Spain. In 1998, Dr. Sam Bradford (recently deceased) designed the Rave Hydro- 1969 photo of SabreFoil, author, Dynafoil configuration and his intrepid father-in-law Continued on Next Page
IHS Fourth Quarter 2013 Page 3 RECREATIONAL HYDROFOILS These boats feature carbon-fiber hulls ered hydrofoils, like the two shown (Continued From Previous Page) and foils. Each boat has two inverted being launched. In Australia the “T” foils, one mounted in the center- Moth class sailboat is evolving into foil trimaran for production by board slot and the other in place of the an exciting racing machine. The Windrider LLC. Two years ago on rudder. Under sail-power, their maxi- French Hydroptère and the British Mission bay in San Diego I was in- mum speed is about 30 knots. Vestas SailRocket are sailing at re- vited to co-pilot a Rave. With two cord speeds. My Hifybe, and Harry people it took about 8 knots of wind to About the same time as the Avocet’s Larsen’s Talaria IV,are two examples become foil borne. My host reported record runs, human powered hydro- of the motor-powered hydrofoil evo- that his boat sails at 1.5 to 2 times the foil boats were pushing the limits. In lution. wind speed. The boat was a real thrill 1991, a team from MIT led by Mark to fly. Dr. Bradfield is also credited Drela, PhD. created the Decavitator with designing the NF2, Neither Fish which set the present record of 18.5 Nor Fowl. This hydrofoil sailboat knots over a 100-meter course and held the Class C world speed sailing won the DuPont prize for the fastest record between 1978 and 1982. human powered hydrofoil.
Shutt’s Hydro-ped
What about the future? The future starts here. History has shown that hydrofoils are real. They go faster with less power; they cut smoothly through rough seas that bring conven- Rave tional boats to a crawl, and hydrofoils In Australia, John Ilett’s Fastacraft fly. They fly just as an airplane flies, MIT’s Decavitator. The fairing Company and Bladerider Interna- but without the threat of the severe was removed for its record run. tional produce complete boats and consequences of an unplanned land- components for an International ing. Moth class monohull sailing boat fit- ted with hydrofoils. What is left to discover about avia- tion? Probably not much, but the hy- drofoil, like an underachieving second child, has yet to be pushed to its highest potential. Of course great designs can come from Fortune 500 companies, but experience has shown that they can also come from thinly fi- nanced home workshops. Cruising boats like Talaria IV, fun boats like Hifybe, human powered boats like Steve Ball and Dwight Filley’s Hydro-ped were all produced by in- hydrofoil spired independent innovators. The challenge is to develop better Today, innovative designs are being autopilots, front foil height controls, Note the two inverted “T” foils brought to life in widely separated parts of the world. In California, my Continued on Next Page associates are creating human pow- Page 4 IHS Fourth Quarter 2013 RECREATIONAL HYDROFOILS easier to build a submerged foil hy- grees F and that its energy density is (Continued From Previous Page ) drofoil now than then. Even Talaria’s only 60 percent that of diesel fuel current digital system was easier to means there must be significant main foil roll controls, foil retractors, build than the analog flight computer changes in a ship’s engines, its and propulsion systems. These are that preceded it. All of the retired hy- tankage and fuel handing systems, challenges that can be met by the in- drofoil engineers are well aware of and its overall design and operation. spired innovator, the committed ex- the technological progress we have perimenter. The purpose of experienced and know better than the “Hydrofoils: Design, Build, Fly” is to technology used in the 1970s. serve as a practical guide to prepare a reader for designing and building a There is a story in one of the Boeing hydrofoil boat that with a little trial history books. Robert Bateman, later and error can be expected to fly. head of BMS, made a bet with his boss. His boss had disapproved the In these ways the path of hydrofoil funding of Little Squirt. Bateman history could take a turn. It was paved through a subterfuge built it anyway. by pioneers followed by military and When his boss found out, Bateman industrial innovators. With the heavy made him a bet that glass of water Mark Bebar, Phil Wassinger and work completed, a new direction would not be spilled when Little William Hockberger could come from an army of individ- Squirt maneuvered on Lake Washing- One of the latest LNG-fueled ships is ual innovators armed with the knowl- ton. Bateman won the bet and there a 50-knot Incat vehicle/passenger edge gained from these predecessors. was no glass holder. Those systems catamaran ferry driven by a pair of For example: performed at least as well as Talaria’s. LM2500s. With LNG its fuel bill will be much lower than otherwise. This 99-meter ferry, named Lopez Mena, was contracted by South American company Buquebus in November 2010, for operation on their River Plate service between Buenos Aires, IHS/SD-5 JOINT DINNER MEETING Argentina and Montevideo in Uru- AT ARMY-NAVY COUNTRY CLUB guay. The photo below shows the ship at the Incat facility in Hobart, Tasmania during the sea trial period. By Mark Bebar, IHS Member Ray’s BRAS D’OR IHS and SNAME Panel SD-5 held a COMMENTARY ON TALARIA-IV quarterly dinner meeting at the new ANCC facility on 30 May. The guest By Harry Larsen, IHS Member speaker was Mr. Philip Wasinger of MAN Diesel North America and the I had the privilege of reviewing Ray topic was “LNG Fuel for Advanced Vellinga’s article on Recreational Hy- Ships”. Use of LNG (liquefied natu- drofoils, and would like to offer the ral gas) as ship fuel is growing rapidly following commentary: in response to its attractive price, en- vironmental benefits, and increasing The Lopez Mena Although the readers may not pick a availability. About 350 LNG-fueled fight with me, only because I’m out of ships are in service and over 100 more ******** reach (I hope), it probably doesn’t are in advanced planning or on order. help to be critical of the accomplish- The fact that LNG is stored at -260 de- ment in the 1970s. In fact it is much
IHS Fourth Quarter 2013 Page 5 IHS BOOTH AT ASNE HIGH PERFOR- students who were very interested in 300-hp Suzuki outboards fitted, the MANCE CRAFT FORUM – HIPER 2013 hydrofoils. Bill Hockberger reports boat cruises in excess of 40 mph. that the HiPer Craft Forum had an ex- By Mark Bebar, IHS Member cellent technical program. The breaks On 19-20 June, IHS manned a booth and lunchtimes included presenta- at ASNE’s annual HiPer Craft Forum tions by companies with new technol- at the Half Moone Cruise and Con- ogies to showcase, and all were vention Center in Norfolk, Virginia. worthwhile. The photo below shows President Mark Bebar, along with Frank Horn, Nat Kobitz, Mark Bebar Treasurer Frank Horn and members and Pete Squicciarini at the IHS Al Ford and Nat Kobitz did an out- booth. Peter later rejoined the IHS af- ter several years of absence. Twin Vee Powercat ‘35 Hydrofoil’ standing job in talking with confer- underway. ence attendees and encouraging Commenting on the benefit of hy- prospective members to join IHS. We drofoils when the boat was intro- were fortunate to have an excellent duced at the Miami Boat Show, Twin location in the exhibit area and were Vee CEO Roger Dunshee said: “The visited by ASNE President Ron Kiss, fuel and efficiency difference with who was encouraged to join IHS. the hydrofoils is incredible,” “We had to design the boat specifically for them and it was quite an invest- ment, but I just can’t believe how well it runs”. Peter Squicciarini, Mark Bebar, The foils generate both lift and pro- Frank Horn and Nat Kobitz vide trim stabilization, and are ******** claimed to significantly improve the boat’s lift/drag ratio. The additional lift and reduced drag equates to use TWIN VEE CATAMARANS 35 HYDRO- of smaller outboards for the same FOIL: ADDED LIFT, BETTER EFFICIENCY speeds.
Courtesy of Martin Grimm, IHS Overall length of the ‘35 Hydrofoil’ Member is 35’-2” (10.72 m), beam is 10’-9” Adapted from article by Lenny (3.28 m), draft when stationary is Rudow of August 26th 2012 at: and 1’-10” (0.56 m) and displacement is from Twin Vee Catamarans website: about 8,500 lbs (3.85 tonnes). www.twinvee.com Frank Horn, Al Ford and Nat Lenny Rudow reasonably asks if Kobitz manning the IHS booth Twin Vee Catamarans Inc. of Fort foils are so good, then why doesn’t Pierce, Florida, USA produces a every small powered catamaran Frank Horn showed Ray Vellinga’s range of outboard powered catama- builder adopt them? He speculated Mandles Prize promotional video ran designs. that design costs are a major reason and other videos on military, com- and notes that results seem to vary mercial and recreational hydrofoils. The relatively new outboard pow- from one boat model to another, with A number of other prospective mem- ered foil assisted catamaran from smaller boats apparently seeing re- bers were given application informa- Twin Vee Catamarans, referred to as duced benefits. In his experience tion. IHS Board member Leigh the ‘35 Hydrofoil’was designed spe- when he tested a pair of 29 foot cata- McCue-Weil of VaTech brought a cifically to carry hydrofoils, fore and group of summer camp high school aft, in its tunnel. With a pair of Continued on Next Page
Page 6 IHS Fourth Quarter 2013 TWIN VEE home-builts, books, magazine cov- is proving very difficult to manage (Continued From Previous Page) ers, surf boards, body boards, air all of these efforts relying totally on chairs, cars, landing craft, as well as the Board members themselves. marans a few years ago, one with and many rare historical photos of early There is simply too much work to be one without foils, the efficiency gain developments. done. measured with foils fitted was less than 10 percent. Several albums feature prominent I am writing to encourage and solicit IHS members or credit member con- your active involvement in the work tributors such as: Frank Horn, of the Society. Specifically, we need Martinn Mandles, Phil Yarnall, assistance in the following areas: Dwight Filley, Sam Bradfield (de- ceased), Kotaro Horiuchi, Charlie Newsletter – preparing articles and Iliff, Doug Lord, Terry Orme, Mark editing Rice, Tom Speer, Youichi Takahashi, Mandles Prize – Judging Graeme Vanner, Gregg Ketterman, The photo shows Preston Barney Black, and others. Website – assistance to the Yarborough, plant manager at Twin Webmaster Please do your part. Visit the site and Vee Catamarans, cleaning a hydro- then upload your hydrofoil photos to Treasurer – assistance to the Trea- foil unit under the hull of a Twin Vee the “dropbox” symbol in the upper surer ‘35 Hydrofoil’model boat before it’s right corner of IHS.phanfare.com. installation at the Twin Vee manufac- The symbol is a box (Looks like a Program – assistance in identifying turing. Photo by Eric Hasert of the ‘U’) with an arrow pointing down guest speakers for IHS/ SNAME Treasure Coast Newspapers into it. Panel SD-5 Joint Dinner Meetings For more information, visit at: If you prefer, send your *.jpg, or Permanent Hydrofoil Exhibit at http://www.twinvee.com/Twin-Vee- other format, photos to: Washington Navy Yard Museum – Hydrofoil.htm [email protected], and write ‘hy- assistance/lead in developing the ex- drofoil photos’ in the subject line. hibit GOT PHOTOS? Problems or comments may be di- Phanfare Photo Site on IHS website rected to one of the Phanfare com- – assistance in posting photos By Ray Vellinga, IHS Member mittee members: Ray Vellinga,Mark I urge you all to consider where you The IHS has recently expanded its Bebar, Harry Larsen, John Meyer, might help in furthering these ef- photo collection. To date, there are and Bill White. forts. Please contact me at: mbebar almost 6,000 photos and videos in IHS BOARD OF DIRECTORS NEEDS @csc.com if you’re interested. 130 albums available for public YOUR HELP viewing and downloading. To view Thanks. the collection, just click on this link: To All IHS Members: Mark R. Bebar – President, IHS IHS.phanfare.com. If that fails try cutting and pasting that address to As you can see from the website and ********* your URL and pressing ‘Enter’. An- Newsletter, the Board is embarked other way to get in is to go to on a wide range of initiatives aimed Foils.org and click on the ‘New at increasing awareness of hydrofoil Photos’ button on the main page. and hydrofoil related technology de- Interested in hydrofoil history, velopments around the world. We pioneers, photographs? Visit the Once in the Phanfare site you will see have had lengthy discussions within history and photo gallery pages hydrofoil albums for Military, Pas- the Board and concluded that it’s vi- of the IHS website. senger, pleasure, sailing, human tal to involve more of you in these ef- http://www.foils.org power, models, inventions, forts from a workload standpoint. It
IHS Fourth Quarter 2013 Page 7 MARITIME APPLIED PHYSICS CORPO- DDG 1000 components for Bath Iron FROM THE BOARD ROOM RATION (MAPC) CONTINUES AS SUS- Works, and its fabrication work on TAINING MEMBER ship-to-ship personnel transfer sys- By Joel Billingsley, Secretary tems for Alion. Current business de- The International Hydrofoil Society By Mark Rice, IHS Member velopment work is focused on Board of Directors met at 1500 on unmanned vessels, offshore wind, Thursday 13 June 2013 at the Army MAPC has expanded its Baltimore and the expansion of our R&D work Navy Country Club (ANCC) in facility to 57,000 square feet and now for DARPA and ONR. has control of a 780-foot pier. The Arlington, VA.– Mark Bebar wel- company has continued to design and IN MEMORIAM - TERRY HENDRICKS comed Harry Larsen, Joel Roberts, build unmanned vessels for Bill White and John Meyer as newly TEXTRON and has recently pur- elected members of the Board of Di- chased a small company that makes By Ray Vellinga, IHS member rectors Class of 2013 – 2016. Offi- air-dropped boats for pilot rescue. cers elected for the 2013 – 2014 term These vessels are 4.5 meters in length Terry Hendricks will be missed by were President – Mark Bebar, Vice and can be dropped from a C-130 air- many, especially those of us who President – Joel Roberts, Secretary – craft. MAPC intends to introduce an love hydrofoils. He was one of the Joel Billingsley, and Treasurer – unmanned variant of this craft in the true ‘rocket scientists’, who Frank Horn. coming year. choose to funnel his creative ener- gies into designing, building, and Program plans for next joint meeting The Company continues to pursue a testing hydrofoils. He was a good were discussed. Mark Bebar and Bill first buyer for our 40-meter hydrofoil friend and one of 6 original mem- Hockberger are pursuing several al- ferry. This ferry was submitted in re- bers of our informal Southern Cali- ternatives. sponse to a solicitation by the govern- fornia “Human Powered Group.” ment of Nova Scotia. The economic Plans for the hydrofoil exhibit at challenges facing renewal of a ferry Washington Navy Yard were dis- service between Portland, Maine and Terry Hendricks, PhD, for more cussed. Mark Bebar and Joel Yarmouth, Nova Scotia were well than a decade has been searching Billingsley continue to promote an documented in the Yarmouth Ferry for the perfect combination of exhibit highlighting the Navy R&D Initiative RFP and in its supporting kneeboard and hydrofoils. Al- program that led to deployment of the documents. MAPC and its partners though some of his original ideas PHMs. Mark has developed a story- proposed instead to serve the route are covered by his patent, many are board of the various U.S. Navy R&D with a 210 passenger hydrofoil ferry. still top secret. That is why he often hydrofoils which culminated in the Under this concept, the ferry would tests his boards at Swami’s surf PHM acquisition program. John connect with existing car rental com- beach in Encinitas, California at Meyer reminded us of the virtual mu- panies to provide automobile service 4am. seum that could be employed. Key to to passengers requiring such trans- the success of this initiative will be a Terry has the distinction of being project manager with the proper skill portation at either port. In this effort, one of the few surfers bitten by a MAPC partnered with Bay State set to pull the many facets of this harbor seal. When asked why such story together. We are pleased to an- Cruise Company, an extremely capa- a docile animal would bite, Terry ble and experienced ferry operator, to nounce that Roger Schaffer has sub- replied, “They get excited when sequently agreed to lead this effort. handle day-to-day operation of the stepped on in the dark.” ferry service. With respect to the Mandles Prize, Mark Bebar noted that he has final- Production work continues on the Terry passed away peacefully June LCS-2 watercraft launch and recov- ized the rules, Ray Vellinga has 13, 2013 in his home town of posted a website video, notification ery system for General Dynamics, its Encinitas, California. manufacturing work on VIRGINIA has been sent out to the SNAME in- Class components for Northrop Grumman, its production work on Continued on Page 12
Page 8 IHS Fourth Quarter 2013 TACOMA MARITIME FEST, 2013 old; military and civilian; business helped build a passenger carrying hy- and pleasure; power and sail; big and drofoil. He promised to send us pho- By Ray Vellinga small. On the table there are two large tos for our Phanfare album TV screens showing “Military collection. Several Boeing alumni Saturday, sun, sea, and hydrofoils. Might”, “590 slides”, and 4 other pass by and one promises to send us What could be better? I’m here at the DVDs from the IHS library. We are complete plans of one of the PHMs. International Hydrofoil Society’s distributing various pamphlets, and Of course there is no shortage of booth at the Tacoma Maritime Fest of displaying the 3 Amazon.com dis- ex-Navy guys with great sea stories to 2013. In front, working the crowd are tributed books: Locus of a Boat De- share. Mike Terry, Sumi Arima, Howard signer 2, Hydrofoil Voyager, and my Apollonio, Harry Larsen, and Greg favorite: Hydrofoils: Design, Build, The most dramatic visual aid is Harry Jacobs. We are surrounded by rock Fly. Also on display is John Meyer’s Larsen’s Talaria IV. Harry is per- music, cotton candy, hamburgers, compact disk, filled with Advanced forming demonstration flights, and a boat building competition, perhaps Marine Vehicle Documents, the past crowd gathers at the point overlook- 100 boats, and thousands of boat lov- Newsletters; plus the contents of CDs ing Commencement Bay. On the ers. IHS is here to help the public un- #1, 2, 3, and 4. hour we lean toward the sea as Harry derstand about hydrofoils. How flies by. It’s 11am and following this much power? How fast? How many Some visitors come to reminisce and pass, about a half mile out he begins passengers? Are waves a problem? teach us a thing or two about hydro- this turn for the flight back. He lands They question us about how boats fly foils. Hank Haynes, IHS member abruptly. We hold our breaths and under human power, or how a surfer stopped by and shared his plans to hope that nothing is broken or leak- can capture enough speed from a have his company, Watercraft Inno- ing. One rogue quips that he may wave to fly, or how can it be possible vation Services, build a prototype. have stopped after bumping into a that military gun boats fly. These are Gary Larson tells us how he grew up salmon and that sushi is available off- typical questions, and we take turns with Harry Larsen on Vashon Island, shore. Not true, and everything explaining. and how he worked for a company is OK, Harry and his passenger flash a that, before the Boeing program, thumbs up. In a few minutes, Harry is The visual aids illustrate the points. on the dock reporting the striking of We have on display fifty 10 X 12 debris from a supposed drainage out- glossies. They show foils new and fall, and he assures us no actual fish were hurt during his run. Relieved, but slightly disappointed, we are forced to follow aromatic smoke wafting from the neighboring “Roach Coach” and settle for $6.00 corn dogs. The other great visual aid was pro- vided by Gregg Jacobs who drove down from Silverdale with two “T” View of Tacoma Maritime FEST foils in his trunk. One is from a Rave and the other from a Slatts 22. Disclaimer This is, of course, our second year at the Fest, and we are observing signifi- IHS chooses articles and cant improvements. The Fest orga- photos for potential interest to IHS members, but does not endorse nizers granted us a very prominent products or necessarily agree with location. Every attendee must pass the authors’ opinions or claims. IHS Members and “Friends” Continued on Page 12
IHS Fourth Quarter 2013 Page 9 SAILOR’S PAGE
HYDROFOIL SAILING IN THE nificant; ie, a hydrofoil boat. I had basin; and confirm how difficult it is 60’S – Part 1 grown up with boats in Maine, de- to make that work. After I finished, the test rig involved in that project be- By Howard Apollonio signed and built a hydroplane, an ice- boat, and a brigantine by age 17; then came the University’s planing craft IHS Member, Howard Apollonio is a worked professionally in boat build- dynamometer for many years. naval architect originally from ing. My boat’s hulls were somewhat inci- Maine and now living in Lynden,, dental to the project: just a means to Washington, not far from Seattle. As a My dilemma was how to get power to mount foils, float at rest, and acceler- university student, he designed, built the water from a craft well above it, ate easily. They were all 1/4” ply- and flew a surface piercing hydrofoil on a student budget of spare cash and wood, since thinner was not feasible sailing catamaran from 1967 during time. The inspirational flash was to then. They and the Douglas fir cross- the heyday of hydrofoils. Subsequent do it with sail power instead of me- beams were a bit too robust and heavy employment and family obligations chanically. Adopting sail power, I had for the sail power and wind available. sidelined hydrofoil activity until the to work out how to balance the forces All a bit crude, but quick and afford- last 15 years when he became and moments involved. That led to able. Since then, I have become a real re-engaged in the design of several use of a tandem foil arrangement on fussbudget about boat weight. foil assisted catamarans. We asked catamaran hulls to maximize righting moment in the context of high wind Howard to provide his recollections The Douglas fir-cored foils were force well above the water. Also, the of that hydrofoil project and he has overlaid with fiberglass which axis of heel was in the direction of obliged. This article is a combination proved to be lengthy in construction, motion, unlike the case of 3-point of Howard’s follow-up notes and ed- due mainly to problems in finish- support. Pitching moments, as resis- ited extracts from “Hydrofoil ing-up the fibreglass skin, and also in tance and thrust varied with speed Sailing” by Alan J. Alexander, James fashioning the joints between units. L. Grogono, Donald J. Nigg and altitude, were controlled by published in 1972 by Juanita weight distribution and weight shift- The sail rig worked well, but could Kalerghi. ing, combined with a difference be- have been much better. There were tween foil incidence angles on limits on material in the Midwest, as Awarded a Naval Architecture degree forward and aft foils. well as budget-limited, so much was a in 1969, the first 12 years of bit crude, and few real yacht parts got The foils had to be surface-piercing Howard’s career were in design of installed. The sails were re-cut from for simplicity. I used a modified commercial & military craft and an old set by a sailmaker friend in Supramar configuration: simple and waterjet propulsion. He has subse- Maine; but he was more oriented to well proven. The foil sections were quently run a naval architecture cruising than racing craft. practice, Apollonio Naval Architec- ogival (circular on suction side, flat ture and Marine Engineering, since on pressure side) for ease of construc- The good news was that this thing 1981, specializing in advanced de- tion and alignment. The vertical worked right the first time out in the sign motoryachts and commercial struts were extended below the foil Summer of 1967. Good thing too, craft. elements for lateral resistance under since I was a newlywed, and relations sail; and cambered inward to develop were getting strained. It was a breezy This project began in 1966 as I be- lift to windward when heeled. That day on nearby Whitmore Lake, so we came enchanted with hydrofoil craft, worked very well. got a good workout, checking all as- from early naval architecture courses pects of operation before one of the I greatly admire other peoples accom- at the University of Michigan. I was foils dismantled itself (a junction be- plishments later that successfully use starting to fall in love with technol- tween a foil and strut separated at submerged foils with simple control ogy, after a life until then without it. speed) ending the first season’s sail- Also, after years of dry book learning, systems. As a course project in col- I was anxious to build something sig- lege, I designed a manually con- trolled foil set and ran it in the model Continued on Next Page
Page 10 IHS Fourth Quarter 2013 HYDROFOIL SAILING squirrelly and prone to capsize - to disappear indefinitely. Hence, I (Continued From Previous Page) quite exhilarating in its own right, lost contact with the boat. arcing high through the air (and quite stable upside-down). Through the years, I devised im- ing. The foil joints were originally provements to this boat’s concept. found to fatigue and fail, and require This boat really came into its own in That included smaller, simpler foils heavy reinforcement with extra lay- open water when I moved it to my that would take off at slightly higher ers of fiberglass after which they home on the Maine coast. The speed, but much lower wind speed. I held. We sailed quite a bit after that townspeople of Rockport probably learned to build things very light. initial outing, including photo shoots thought the nut-case on Mechanic Those aspects, combined with higher and a resistance tow-test with a Street had really gone over the edge budget and larger, better sails would friend’s motorboat (See below). The with this thing, after the brigantine greatly improve the utilization of tow point during those tests was too and hydroplane. It soaked up such a boat. Other technology and large waves like perfect configurations that have been seen long-stroke shock absorb- are also worth considering. Whether ers. Good sailing breezes those ideas convert to reality remains produce significant waves, to be seen. so I designed for high run- ning altitude (apparent in photo). There was almost no pitch or roll, due to this smooth foilborne operation combined with the steadying effect of the sails. It was a kick to hang out suspended high over a deep trough in a low, hence trim and resistance were beam sea at 15-20+ knots; then unrealistically too high. We did peg gently mount the next wave front. Apollonio’s boat riding high the chase boat’s speedometer at 30 knots plus in about that much wind; My foilcat followed me around the Meanwhile, I have been employed so that was a measure of success. US as I changed jobs. But rarely was with designing an eclectic assort- there enough wind to take advantage The impressions of sailing such a ment of fast powered craft that have of foiling. So, I later fitted it with craft are unique: rather like a sail- included hovercraft, multihulls, foil rudders and daggerboards to sail plane at low altitude, but with a bit of assisted powered catamarans, and hullborne. In spite of simple rectan- rigging howl to provide a sense of SWATH vessels, as well as planing gular sections, it sailed very well and drama. Takeoff and acceleration were and semi-planing monohulls (other- rapidly. After I moved to sudden as it broke free of low speed wise known as “bread & butter” Bellingham, WA, I realized that job wave drag. Then it tip-toed smoothly work). The hydrofoil background and family obligations minimized with a clear sense of effortless speed, has proven valuable in the develop- time to sail and maintain the craft. akin to that of an iceboat. This really ment of foil-assisted catamarans And wind during weather suitable caught the attention of nearby (also suitable for trimarans). I am for occasional capsizing is notori- motorboaters as it passed them under- still intrigued by the idea of creating ously unreliable in Puget Sound. way. It would match wind speed, a fully foil-supported yacht, be it sail Finally I decided to give the craft to a more or less, depending on heading. or engine powered; and am ready to boatbuilder friend in Vancouver, But, it would not tack on foils, due to pursue that. BC, in hopes he would restore and weight and slow steering. I admire upgrade it, so we could sail it occa- later craft that tack nimbly on foils. sionally. But he did not get that done [To be continued as Part 2 in the Being light afoot on a fast reach, with before circumstances prompted him next NL.] a high center of effort, it got a bit
IHS Fourth Quarter 2013 Page 11 WELCOME NEW MEMBERS continued as a popular forum for TACOMA MARITIME FEST, 2013 (Continued From Page 2) members and visitors with increasing traffic as time goes by. Likewise, the (Continued From Page 9) mittees including Co-chairman of main website showed a steady stream of visits with access from around the the NAS Committee on Evolution the IHS booth to enter the other world. The new Phanfare Photo Al- of the National Oceanographic Re- exhibits. Possibly because of this, bum site showed an amazing recep- search Fleet in 2009-10. He is cur- among the masses, we are encounter- tion with nearly twice the number of rently on the Advisory Board for the ing more sophisticated visitors. Ta- photos posted in a fraction of the time Center for the Commercial Deploy- coma is less than an hour drive south as the old photo gallery. Phanfare of- ment of Transportation Technol- of Boeing territory, and local J.M. fers unlimited storage capability and ogies (CCDoTT), and serves on the Martinac Ship Yard. We are also see- many topic categories at a lower cost Board of Directors for the Maritime ing many ex-military and retired than our old site. Technology Alliance, a not-for- commercial mariners. Bottom line profit group dedicated to preserving Mark Bebar asked the Board to con- is, we heard and told a record number and promoting industrial, academic of sea tales, and it’s been a good year and governmental maritime capa- scientiously identify successors, committee assignments, and volun- YOUR 2013 DUES ARE DUE bilities in Maryland and the sur- IHS Membership options are: rounding region. teers to handle the many activities on our plate. Mark will publish a list of US$30 for 1 year, $56 for 2 specific projects where assistance is years, and $82 for 3 years. Stu- Arjan de Lange – Arjan studied needed. Martin Grimm suggested we dent membership is still only Mechanical Engineering at Delft keep in mind the international body US$10. For payment of regular and Economics at Erasmus Univer- of prospects for these jobs and make membership dues by credit card sity in Rotterdam. He is owner of a them known in the Newsletter and using PAYPAL, please go to the family business, the Building Com- website. (Note: Since the meeting, a IHS Membership page at pany A. de Lange, which is now in special announcement has been sent
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