A Bruce foil is a variant of the

leeboard A leeboard is a form of pivoting keel used by a sailboat largely and very often in lieu of a fixed keel. Typically mounted in pairs on each side of a hull, leeboards function much like a centreboard, allowing shallow-draft craft to ply waters f ...

, consisting of a

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ...

typically mounted on an

outrigger An outrigger is a projecting structure on a boat, with specific meaning depending on types of vessel. Outriggers may also refer to legs on a wheeled vehicle that are folded out when it needs stabilization, for example on a crane that lifts ...

and always set at an angle to provide both lateral and vertical force. It was invented by

Edmond Bruce Edmond Bruce (September 28, 1899 – November 28, 1973) was an American radio pioneer best known for creating the rhombic antenna and Bruce array. Bruce was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Brooklyn, and Wash ...

in the early 1960s, and first published in the Amateur Yacht Research Society publication in April 1965.

Theory

Nearly all methods that increase resistance to sideways movement also cause heeling, the leaning produced by the imbalance of the forces on the

sail A sail is a tensile structure—which is made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may ...

s, high above the waterline, and the sideways resistance, generated by the

centerboard A centreboard or centerboard (US) is a retractable hull appendage which pivots out of a slot in the hull of a sailboat, known as a ''centreboard trunk'' (UK) or ''centerboard case'' (US). The retractability allows the centreboard to be raised t ...

or other

below the waterline. The resulting

torque In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...

causes the hull to heel until the buoyancy of the hull provides sufficient torque to balance the heeling force. The limited buoyancy of the hull therefore limits the amount of force that the sail can effectively produce. One solution to dealing with this limit is to bring the forces generated by the sail and the underwater foil into alignment, canceling as much of the torque as possible and thus reducing the amount of heeling. Two approaches to this have surfaced one being the

inclined rig An inclined rig is a method of rigging a sail to direct the force of the sails in such a way as to reduce heeling. See also *Bruce foil A Bruce foil is a variant of the leeboard, consisting of a hydrofoil, foil typically mounted on an outrigg ...

, and the other the Bruce foil.

Implementation

A Bruce foil reduces torque by moving the foil far out from the centerline of the hull, and angling it so that a perpendicular line through the center of the underwater portion of the foil will intersect the center of pressure of the sails. Like a traditional centerboard, the Bruce foil is generally a symmetric design, such as the

NACA The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its assets ...

00xx series, which relies on the

leeward Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...

slip of the hull to provide the

angle of attack In fluid dynamics, angle of attack (AOA, α, or \alpha) is the angle between a reference line on a body (often the chord line of an airfoil) and the vector representing the relative motion between the body and the fluid through which it is m ...

needed to generate lift. When mounted on the lee side, the Bruce foil generates an upwards lift in addition to lateral force, and when mounted on the

windward Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...

side, it generates a downwards force. Bruce foils can be mounted in pairs, one on each side, as used in some

trimaran A trimaran (or double-outrigger) is a multihull boat that comprises a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls (or "floats") which are attached to the main hull with lateral beams. Most modern trimarans are sailing yachts designed for recreati ...

designs. In this case, the leeward foil works in conjunction with the leeward ama to provide lift, and the windward foil can be retracted to reduce drag.Aegean Marine
trimarans use retracting Bruce foils in the amas to provide additional stability. At equilibrium, the force from the foil and the sail will always be balanced, so capsize should be impossible, but in practice that is not the case. Since the foil's force is relative to the hull's movement through the water, and the sail's force is relative to the wind moving past the sail, sudden changes in wind speed or direction can unbalance the foil and cause heeling. In addition, a foil on the windward side presents an unstable situation, since any lifting of the foil out of the water, by mechanisms such as heeling or wave action, will result in reduced downwards force, potentially leading to capsize. A lee foil provides more stability, as loss of lift will force the foil back into the water.

Advantages and disadvantages

The main advantages over a typical

or leeboard is that the Bruce foil allows the sails to remain nearly upright and keep the full force of the wind available to drive movement without the crew needing to move their weight. The main disadvantage is that the sails remain upright and keep the full force of the wind available, rather than depowering with increasing angle of heel as happens with traditional foils. The Bruce foil also produces increased drag as a result of the vertical component of force, as well as a yawing force due to the off-center placement of the foil, which may require alteration of the steering system to compensate.

References

A Primer on Proas
at The Proa File discusses Bruce foils {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruce Foil Sailing rigs and rigging