''Hydroptère'' is a French experimental

sailing hydrofoil A sailing hydrofoil, hydrofoil sailboat, or hydrosail is a sailboat with wing-like hydrofoil, foils mounted under the hull (watercraft), hull. As the craft increases its speed the hydrofoils Lift (force), lift the hull up and out of the water, gr ...

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 recrea ...

imagined by the yachtman

Éric Tabarly Éric Marcel Guy Tabarly (24 July 1931 – 13 June 1998) was a French naval officer and yachtsman. He developed a passion for offshore racing very early on and won several ocean races such as the Ostar in 1964 and 1976, ending English domination ...

. The Hydroptère project was managed by Alain Thébault, the design done by naval architects

VPLP design VPLP Design (Van Peteghem Lauriot-Prévost) is a French-based naval architectural firm founded by Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot-Prévost, responsible for designing some of the world's most innovative racing boats. Their designs presently ...

and the manufacturing by a group of French high-tech companies. Its

multihull A multihull is a boat or ship with more than one Hull (watercraft), hull, whereas a vessel with a single hull is a monohull. The most common multihulls are catamarans (with two hulls), and trimarans (with three hulls). There are other types, wi ...

hydrofoil A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains sp ...

design allows the sail-powered vessel to reach high speeds on water. The design is based on experience from a range of hydrofoil sailcraft that Thébault built in cooperation with

since the 1980s. On 5 October 2008 she reached a record speed of , however this was over a shorter distance than the 500m necessary to qualify for an official world record. On 21 December 2008, the ''Hydroptère'' briefly reached near

Fos-sur-Mer Fos-sur-Mer (, literally ''Fos on Sea''; Provençal: ''Fòs'') is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France. Geography Fos-sur-Mer is situated about north west of Marseille, on the Mediterranean coast, and to the w ...

, but capsized and turtled shortly thereafter. On 4 September 2009, the ''Hydroptère'' broke the outright world record, sustaining a speed of for in of wind. In November 2009, she broke the barrier for a nautical mile with a speed of in

Hyères Hyères (), Provençal dialect, Provençal Occitan language, Occitan: ''Ieras'' in classical norm, or ''Iero'' in Mistralian norm) is a Communes of France, commune in the Var (département), Var Departments of France, department in the Provence-Al ...

, France.

Abandonment and sale

During July 2015, the ''Hydroptère'' sailed 2215 nautical miles from Los Angeles to Honolulu and docked in Kewalo Harbor. On 15 March 2016 the Harbor Master posted an "Abandoned Vessel" notice on the ''Hydroptère'' which was subsequently sold at auction. In June 2019, L'Hydroptère was bought by Chris Welsh (USA) and Gabriel Terrasse (FRA). In November 2019, l'Hydroptère was sailed from Honolulu, Hawaii to San Francisco, California by professional sailor Mike Price and a delivery crew so that she could undergo an extensive re-fit.

References

External links

Hydroptère 2.0 official site

Youtube Video of ''Hydroptère''

4 September 2009, world record video (51.36 kts) on Youtube

www.hbm.com (The Worlds Fastest Sailing Boat using HBM Measurement Technology)
Hydrofoils Multihulls 2000s sailing yachts {{ship-stub

Abandonment and sale

See also

References

External links