Professional BoatBuilder - April-May 2018

22 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER

H

arry Larsen put the throttle down,

and Talaria IV was on the move. A

bit ponderously at  rst, as one would

expect of a 24' (7.3 m) cabin cruiser

with 5,140 lbs (2,331 kg) of displace-

ment still powered by her origi-

nal 200-hp Volvo Penta 280

sterndrive, she picked up speed

and skipped past 30 knots—a

good hustle for a 1980s-vintage

Bayliner Monterey. At that

cruising speed, I saw Quarter-

master Har bor on the south-

eastern end of Vashon Island,

Washington, quickly shrink in

the distance. Shockingly, this

happened without any spray

splashing out from underneath

the hull and no wake behind us.

Only the frothy line of the prop-wash

was neatly etched into the blue of Puget

Sound.

But overall, I was disappointed by

the lack of spectacle: “Really, that’s

what foiling feels like?” I thought. I’d

expected the driver to  ip a battery of

switches or push one magic button. But

Larsen just sat there as if he’d been

driving his station wagon, while Talaria

did it all by herself. As we

zoomed along, it slowly sank

in: It’s the absence of drama

that’s the real story here. By

making his quirky prototype

foil, Larsen pulled o a tough

act and made it look easy. So

easy, in fact, that I came away

wondering: “If this boat can

foil, well, pretty much any boat

should, too.”

So why don’t we see more

powerboats cruising along

DIETER LOIBNERsmoothly at 30+ knots, with

Top—Talaria IV, a vintage Bayliner Monterey, cruises along the shores of Vashon Island. Owner Harry Larsen, at the helm, conceived

and installed the 24' (7.3m) boat’s retractable foils, arranged in a canard con guration. Above—When foiling, Talaria leaves a

narrow wake consisting only of the prop-wash.

DENISE LARSEN

Rising to the Occasion

FOILING: PART 1FOILING: PART 1

BY DIETER LOIBNERBY DIETER LOIBNER

HIGH

SPEED

Foiling172-ADFinal.indd 22 2/22/18 8:48 AM