Hydroptere, the flying boat: trimarin with hydrofoils

Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, France (GenevaLunch) -  Hydroptère, Alain Thébault’s flying boat, a trimarin on hydrofoils that is under development in partnership with EPFL polytechnic in Lausanne, Sunday pushed the sailing speed barrier yet further, marking 61 knots off Napoléon beach at Port-Louis. The boat ended by capsizing in the powerful squall.

The established wind was 35-38 knots, with gusts over 45 knots, but the boat was able to get up to the highest speed it, or any other sailboat, has recorded, according to the Hydroptère team. In early December the boat’s speed of 46.52 knots on average over a nautical mile, reached 13 November 2008, was ratified by the WSSRC, the British-based organization that monitors and approves sailing records: Hydroptère thus officially became the fastest sailboat on the planet. It added this to its earlier performance: the first boat to cross the “wind barrier” of 50 knots.

The crew has light injuries after capsizing Sunday, but “they are above all delighted with this speed peak which confirms the boat’s potential. They are impatient to get back to the attempts and stabilize those impressive speeds,” they noted in a press release.

Related

• About the project
• TSR’s Nouvo, video clip and report, October 2008

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