The Newest (to me anyway) Sailing Competition: SailGP

And who doesn't enjoy a cool video?

This is one of those things I tripped over on a random walk around the internet. Actually I was looking for something sailing related when this came up.

SailGP has apparently decided to offer what is essentially an alternative to the America's Cup. They took the AC50 foiling catamaran from 2017, made a number of design changes, and turned it into a one-design racing class.

Despite being based on the AC50 that raced in the 2017 America's Cup, the F50 shares few similarities with its predecessor.

Yes, it still foils using rudders with elevators and two daggerboards, but nearly the entire design was reworked to create faster, flatter and more stable flight.

It seems to have worked, because they have nine teams competing. And the teams (and their backers) know that they won't have to scrap the boats in 4 years and start again.

That expense been something of a problem for America's Cup. The AC72 foiling catamarans were so difficult to sail, and so expensive to build, that there were not many takers, and at least one person died during training. And then 4 years later they had a different design, so new boats were required, and 4 years after that there was another major design change. And I'm fairly certain there is a major change in the works for the next competition.

The name of the boat, F50, signifies that it has been designed to go 50 knots, or 50 nautical miles per hour (that is 92.6 km/h or 57.5 mph), in ideal conditions, and they have reached that goal. They hope to hit 100 kilometers per hour.

A bunch of my sailing friends hate the foiling boats, but they are here to stay. The boats are engineering masterpieces. They are also fast and exciting, and they are starting to impact the stuff you can buy. There are foiling boats out there, even Hobbie (of Hobbie Cat fame) made one for a while. There are what amount to foiling jet skis, and other stuff coming out. They are not cheap of course.

This is the CNET video World's Most Advanced Hydrofoil Boats Fly Above Water, which came out in May of this year. It has some great video from the 2021 and early 2022 races, and the exposition is done well. The first minute or so has some great shots of these boats on the water, that I think most people will enjoy. So even if you only watch a minute or so, I don't think you will be disappointed. If you're an engineering geek, or a sailing geek, the rest of the 12 minutes might be interesting as well. It includes a fair bit of info on the boats and the rules, how foiling works, and the data collected. These boats collect a ton of data, which is all shared.