Hey kids, be the first one on your block to ride a Monster Truck sailboat. Looks like a good ride for someone too young or too old for "real extreme sports like" windsurfing or kites.
Page I found said it was about $5k for the boat and $5k for the foil kit and not available till maybe next year. That might be in Australian money.
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What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.
Kind of a wimpy looking little boat, but wow - becomes uber cool really quick. Seems like this is an existing sailboat. Am I right?
I do think that there should be a sailing craft specifically built for foiling rather than trying to adapt windsurfers, kiteboards, existing sailboats etc. The problem with windsurfers and kiteboards is you have to learn a pretty difficult sport first. This thing looks almost like the right approach, but it need to be smaller, and car toppable by one person. Also the sail doesn't really look like what you would want on fast boat. Probably some kind of small sit down sailboat is the right place to start.
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What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.
The Opti was designed to be homebuilt out of three sheets of plywood. Side note: The designer, Clark Mills, also designed the Windmill dinghy which I spent a lot of time in when young and I still have a hull. Also meant to be homebuilt out of plywood, it was/is surprisingly fast and light for a dinghy intended to be sailed with a "family" (spouses or parent/child) crew. I subjected my now wife to it when we were dating. She still married me. I think that's why she wants me to windsurf so I won't ask her to crew on the 'mill.
While there are merits to the clean sheet approach you suggest, since there are 150k registered Optis world-wide, it's not a bad place to start either if the foil is stable and affordable.
Hey kids, be the first one on your block to ride a Monster Truck sailboat. Looks like a good ride for someone too young or too old for "real extreme sports like" windsurfing or kites.
Page I found said it was about $5k for the boat and $5k for the foil kit and not available till maybe next year. That might be in Australian money.
What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.
But
Alan
It's always Axel. Effing Axel.
Great find. Now, ALL the cool kids will want one.
Kind of a wimpy looking little boat, but wow - becomes uber cool really quick. Seems like this is an existing sailboat. Am I right?
I do think that there should be a sailing craft specifically built for foiling rather than trying to adapt windsurfers, kiteboards, existing sailboats etc. The problem with windsurfers and kiteboards is you have to learn a pretty difficult sport first. This thing looks almost like the right approach, but it need to be smaller, and car toppable by one person. Also the sail doesn't really look like what you would want on fast boat. Probably some kind of small sit down sailboat is the right place to start.
What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.
The only "high performance" thing about Axel's boat is under water. The rig is state of the art 2nd century BC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spritsail
The Opti was designed to be homebuilt out of three sheets of plywood. Side note: The designer, Clark Mills, also designed the Windmill dinghy which I spent a lot of time in when young and I still have a hull. Also meant to be homebuilt out of plywood, it was/is surprisingly fast and light for a dinghy intended to be sailed with a "family" (spouses or parent/child) crew. I subjected my now wife to it when we were dating. She still married me. I think that's why she wants me to windsurf so I won't ask her to crew on the 'mill.
While there are merits to the clean sheet approach you suggest, since there are 150k registered Optis world-wide, it's not a bad place to start either if the foil is stable and affordable.
"I do think that there should be a sailing craft specifically built for foiling"
Ummm, like maybe a Moth? http://www.mach2boats.com/
Bill Herderich