The View From the Bowsprit of a Bay Area Foiling Cat
Ross Stein was out sailing on the Bay recently and sent us this cool shot of the on-water action.
Here’s a GoPro photo from the tip of our bowsprit on a Flying Phantom Essentiel, an 18-ft foiling catamaran, taken last month with Henry van den Bedem on the trapeze while I drove.
On a foiling cat, one flits between joy and terror in an instant. The sensation of foiling is addictive, floating over the chop and boat wakes that would otherwise pummel a small boat. The crew is constantly moving fore and aft on the wire to keep the platform flat. But the capsizes — both to weather and to leeward — wake you out of your reverie.
Once foiling, the boat is displacing just a gallon or so of water, and so it has no inertia, becoming super-sensitive to the helm. Move the tiller just a few inches and you tack or jibe, so you grip the tiller for dear life.
The modern-day hang 10, or perhaps 20?
Pretty cool moving along at 25-30 knots on foils. The MHRA club (Multi Hull Racing Association) is now defunct, but we used to host several regattas throughout Northern California at lakes like Black Butte, Eagle Lake, Lake Tahoe, Woodward Reservoir, Huntington Lake, and in NV Washoe Lake, Pyramid Lake, plus sailing in the bay out of RYC, Bodega Bay, Rio Vista, Santa Cruz, Monterey Bay, and many years ago from Crissy Field. Mainly Nacras, Prindles, Hobies, some Tornados, Sea Sprays, and a Phantom as well.