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Foiling Gunboat Cruiser


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From FPSA

 

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A stoked Peter Johnstone reports that the hard-working design and build team at Gunboat have done it!  The full-foiling G4 cruiser/racer is ticking all the test boxes during her St. Martin sea trials, and here’s today’s sailing report directly from test pilot and mast builder Ben Hall:

“An epic day of sailing the new Gunboat G4!  The orange rocket handled the 18-20 kt breezes off St Maarten with ease.  Foiling was fast and steady. I got to drive upwind and hit 15.4 kts…incredible!

Downwind with R1 we peaked out at 25.7. On the foils we had really good VMG with TWA of about 160. On the final burn into the harbor with the solent and full main the top speed was 29.7.

Probably one of the best days of sailing ever for me…all on a boat with a cruising interior, a nice fridge and stove, electric sail drive and cockpit for the best of parties.

Truly remarkable!”

Screw the AC48 – they should just do the America’s Cup in these things.

Watch the G4 thread in Multihull Anarchy and Gunboat’s Facebook Page for the latest photos and reports, and check back here later in the week for the full video.  Photo courtesy of Rachel Jaspersen/Ocean Images

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Seriously cool! I reckon in 50 years or maybe less, they will be common and ordinary boats...

I wonder how they would be in a big sea, and when it would be wise to drop into displacement mode...

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A great achievement; well done to all involved.

But I wonder what the cost is? There's a difference between what is achievable, and what is affordable. And perhaps who has the concentration to sustain these speeds for any length of time cruising?

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True Tim, depends on how stable it is on the foils and, for a lot of real cruisers, can it do this on AP?? It's version 1.0, and like all the Gunboats, it won't be cheap. I'm sure they have also thought about what happens when a foil impacts with a log or whatever, with breakaway design, and a ride height not so high as to cause a serious issue if a foil is lost...

 

Still, it is a development, and a pretty cool one IMO...

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These will be on our waters MUCH quciker than you think. Dopey buggers with more money than sailing experience or manners will want to have them because their penises are too small. I'll want one too, the boat that is.

 

But the REAL take home message is that it's Time for Compulsory Boat Licences (TCBL).

 

For example I would LOVE to have filmed the rich arsehole in the big fancy boat who tried to bully me into giving way in Man O'War Bay 1835 hrs last Saturday night. We were both under motor his sails furled and my main up coming into the anchorage. I stood on and he came within metres before veering away. I still had room to avoid a collision if I needed to (like the good learning seaman I try to be) but this prick was, well, a prick who thought he'd get away with it. Hey buddy, that was me in 'Storm Fantasy' Easterly 30 and I got your details and I know what you look like (it was that close). Thanks to others in the anchorage who gave this newbie advise on anchoring.

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Kevin I strongly disagree with the licencing. All it would do is provide jobs for some more bureaucrats, and more cost to go boating. It won't change the dickheads from being dickheads. I saw a few of those myself over the weekend....

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Funny you should mention it Matt because I have just come out of a conference which was quickly resolved AFTER the video footage was presented. Funny how the story changed! So now I want compulsory dashcams in all vehicles on the roads too. Yes a few will still be sociopaths in boats or on the roads despite licensing or dashcams or whatever. But on our roads I'd hazard a guess that our death toll would take another dive (after it did with compulsory seat belts and after it did with random breath testing) if we had compulsory dashcams - and they are so cheap these days. Re bureacratic costs for boat licensing, I pay a hefty Coastguard membership each year and am happy to but it would be nice to know how much of that supports people who shouldn't be in charge of a boat. My boat license when I was in NSW cost me $10 from memory and I had to do a rules of the road exam and know a couple of other basic things about boats. The boat licensing system in Japan is pretty strict and I would guess their accident rate might be lower.  And, again from memory, so is Singapore's. Monday lunchtime I also saw a tiny boat sail blithely across the shipping lane despite a huge ship tooting a warning. And I think the guy who chopped up the fisherman the other day should be banned for a period of time from sailing or being aboard his boat on the water - a licensing system would certainly help in these cases.

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From what I have seen around places with licencing schemes, there were just as many stupid issues as there are here. Including Singapore and Ausy.

 

I do agree that video footage can be useful. I would have taken some of a Launch passing us at 20 knots or more within 15M (between two yachts) if I'd had my camera handy. I'll put it in the cockpit more often now. Footage would have gone to the harbormaster....

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I had a look at that website. Two thoughts came to mind. 1) It ain't what you'd call pretty. 2) At those speeds lazing around in the cockpit you'll experience pretty high apparent winds - all the time. Maybe an enclosed space like a hard dodger would have helped?

 

Impressive piece of engineering.

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Was interesting enough on Monday overtaking some of the motor boats coming into Auckland harbour. Will be more interesting in few years with foils on the old GBE at twice the speed, twice the amount of boats and half the width of the harbour.  :roll:

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