Yachts & Yachting — February 2018

PAUL WYETH; FOILING WORLD

Keep your weight stable... You trim-ease,

trim-ease and keep the boat flat - and it foils

Above

Trainee instructors

get to grips with

a retro-fit kit,

which can remove

significant cost

Below

The F101 oers

the option of

coaching on board

FOILING FEATURE

FOILING INTO

TO THE FUTURE

At the RYA

Dinghy Show

on 3-4 March

at Alexandra

Palace, London, Alan Hillman will

be talking about the development

of foiling and how you can get

involved. Catch him on the Suzuki

Main Stage at 12:00 both days.

For tickets and more information

see dinghyshow.org.uk

RETRO-FITTING

An issue with all of these is that they

don’t solve the prime issue with foiling

boats: cost. One option that does

address this is the equipment from

Australian company Glide Free Foils,

that allows Lasers and RS Aeros to be

adapted with foils, in much the same

way at the RS600FF did a decade ago.

e Glide Free package for the Aero

for example, including shipping from

Australia, costs just over £3,000. is

opens the market to RYA Training

centres looking to oer the new RYA

foiling courses, which could potentially

use this gear as an introductory

option, especially as it is designed

to t boats they may already own.

As part of its investigations into

how it might be able to oer foiling

courses, the RYA tested various

equipment including the Glide Free

Laser and Aero adaptations, as well

as the Waszp, the foiler developed by

Mach 2 and Bladerider Moth designer,

Andrew McDougall, that is supposed

to be a ‘budget’ Moth, but still costs in

excess of £10k delivered to the UK.

According to Amanda Van Santen,

the RYA’s chief instructor, dinghy

and windsurng, and the person

spearheading the RYA’s foiling initiative,

during their equipment trials they

were especially surprised at how well

the RS Aero adapted with the Glide

Free package performed. ey even

feel it would be possible to carry out

a respectable foiling gybe on it.

FOILING COURSES

e RYA has begun running specic

courses to train up both sailing and

windsurng instructors to teach their

new three part foiling syllabus. is will

comprise an introductory course – First

Flight – followed by the more advanced

Sustained Flight and Performance

Flight levels. Amanda recognises that

these courses won’t be on oer across

all RYA Training centres, but will

certainly be available from centres

such as Minorca Sailing or Wildwind,

while the likes of Mark Warner and

Neilson are also very interested.

So what level of experience is

required before embarking on one

of the new foiling courses? “A Level

2 sailor, someone happy sailing

something like a Laser in a decent

breeze, should be able to go foiling

with no problems whatsoever,” says

Amanda. “In light breeze you can

teach them the fundamentals of how

to sail the boat, and then control and

manage the environment they’re in

to get them foiling. We proved that,

both on the courses we have just

run, as well as with Minorca Sailing

this summer.” And obviously once

someone has learned the ropes on

these boats, they may then decide to

graduate up to a full-blown Moth.

Alan Hillman’s Pro-Vela training

centre in Spain’s Mar Menor has been

oering specialist coaching since the

dawn of Moth foiling. Hillman shares

some of its philosophy: “When we are

teaching someone to Moth sail, the three

big issues are body weight, steering and

trimming. e steering and trimming

provide your balance. With steering –

you need to steer in a straight line; while

you need to keep your body weight

stable, so don’t hike or throw yourself

around. If you don’t move and you don’t

steer, then the only variable you have

is trimming. So then you trim-ease,

trim-ease and you keep the boat at

and the boat foils – it is that easy...”

However Amanda issues a

warning that those looking to take

up foiling need to manage their

expectations! Like any aspect of the

sport of sailing, to be able to foil well

requires practice, but the new RYA

courses can help with this process.

It is also worth considering that while

the RYA is looking at foiling in terms of

how it might be adopted by the wider

public, for aspirant sailors looking

to progress up the sport towards the

America’s Cup or Volvo Ocean Race or

Vendée Globe, foiling skill is no longer a

fringe requirement – it is fundamental.

50 Yachts & Yachting February 2018 yachtsandyachting.co.uk

DINGHY_SHOW_AC_GChjg_TH.indd 50 14/12/2017 16:36