MastFoil Chris White Designs

[nwdiver]

Originally Posted by longjonsilver

Is the mast round? i thot that it said that the mast was normal - oblong. So the foil changes shape depending on the angle of the foil to the wind?

jus wondering.

Round or oval, doesn’t matter, the foil doesn’t touch it as it feathers around it.

And as to the sail area, the foils add sail area, I saw Barracuda maneuver in close quarters using the foils only, it looked like it was under power, but when asked said no only the foils…..

[TheOffice]

Friend has one - has done 15,000 miles on it over 5 or 6 years. Says she's fast! He has a pilot's license and loves the foils. I've only been aboard when anchored. I'm nt sure I like the forward helm position, but that's another matter.

[Manateeman]

Thank you office. Would it be possible to ask their opinion on safety offshore.
It’s quite a different rig and I don’t see it as a simple variation of a ketch with two roller fullers. Nothing like a wishbone ketch either.
Chris White goes into great detail about the rig but is everything true when conditions really deteriorate. The one boat I saw (where I talked to the crew)
covered a lot of miles and...well the crew looked HAPPY. That really impressed me. They were smiling. Fast is nice and necessary for some sailors. What I want is SAFETY in storms. Happy? That’s a whole other dimension...it why I always end with Happy trails to you. A nice song, a good wish. So...
Happy Trails To You.
Captain Mark and his manatee crew hard at work on their Defend the ORCAS Halloween costumes. What a crew

[smj]

Originally Posted by Manateeman

Thank you office. Would it be possible to ask their opinion on safety offshore.

It’s quite a different rig and I don’t see it as a simple variation of a ketch with two roller fullers. Nothing like a wishbone ketch either.

Chris White goes into great detail about the rig but is everything true when conditions really deteriorate. The one boat I saw (where I talked to the crew)

covered a lot of miles and...well the crew looked HAPPY. That really impressed me. They were smiling. Fast is nice and necessary for some sailors. What I want is SAFETY in storms. Happy? That’s a whole other dimension...it why I always end with Happy trails to you. A nice song, a good wish. So...

Happy Trails To You.

Captain Mark and his manatee crew hard at work on their Defend the ORCAS Halloween costumes. What a crew

But fast can lead to safety? Which has a greater chance of being hit by a propellor, a barracuda or a manatee? Which has a greater chance of being run over, a tortoise or a hare?

[Manateeman]

Which boat do Orcas have fun chasing, a old slow aluminum monohull with a crew of offgassing manatees or a speedy high tech catamaran. Orcas can hit speeds of 28 mph or 45 kph. They feel the need for speed. Something moving fast = something to eat.
Which boat breaks down into bite size chunks.
Big white teeth. LOL.
I love these loony digressions when the subject Needs a little humor.
You know I’m kidding you. So long as you send funds to Save the Orcas, I won’t tell them how they can find you on AIS.
Mark
I’m not serious! It’s manatee / orca humor ! Yikes don’t call the moderators.

[Flcapt]

It is a round mast, tripod rig with a foil shaped "sleeve". No spreaders. A classic rotating wing wast has gear of a much greater magnitude.

[Franziska]

I'd get one in a heartbeat (but don't have the money for it).

Easy handling, must be good downwind, no complicated in mast furler.
Sail can be taken away very fast which is a plus on a cat.

Haven't sailed on one unfortunately though.

[Munoz]

Another variation of the Chris White/Prout approach: https://www.hopyacht.co.za/

I wonder how much they lose compared to the Mast foil? I guess it must be a fair bit slower upwind.....

[DougR]

A close friend of mine was aboard for the delivery of hull #3 (I believe) from the plant in Chile thru the Panama Canal to S.E. Virginia. The delivery was relatively uneventful, but they did have problems keeping the rigging tight. On this boat the back stays were composed of synthetic materials and the tensioning was accomplished with dead eyes and synthetic line. The problem was that the line was so slippery that it would pull thru the knots and loosen up, making it a constant battle to maintain rigging tension. However, the delivery was a success.

The more important problem developed later when the boat lost a mast while sitting in its slip at our yacht club. Because of the rotating foil design, the mast is supported at the bottom and top only, with no rigging support anywhere else. One day a moderate squall blew thru and the wind velocity was just right to start the front mast pumping a bit, which quickly developed into a harmonic and it caused the mast to buckle in the middle and collapse forward over the front beam. Of course this caused a good bit of concern in the Chris White organization. The exact same thing happened a second time later when the boat was on the hard for winter storage.

I believe the “fix” for the failures was beefing up the section of the mast for stiffness and perhaps also shortening the mast a bit in future production. As I understand it, the same failure also occurred on at least one other vessel.