Yachts & Yachting – April 2018

Above

The F101 foils

very stably, but

this is no petite

foiling dinghy,

at almost 18ft

the F101 has a proper boom (again,

all-carbon), so a little thought about

wind direction is needed ahead of

launching to ensure the boom is attached

to the mainsail on the correct side of

the foil. The boat is sufficiently stable

that you could, conceivably, launch

with the main down and head out

under jib if you had serious concerns,

but I’m not convinced that would be

necessary, often or even occasionally.

UNDER SAIL 10/10



To date my experience with foiling is

limited to some time in a Moth, during

which my sailing could charitably be

described as below average. I’ve struggled

with a few issues previously. Principally,

when up and foiling I was never

comfortable enough to really lock into

the groove and so was always awaiting

the inevitable wipe out. By focusing

on the upcoming crash I wasn’t really

learning much when foiling, slowing

development and after several swims I

would be knackered and call it a day.

Sailing the F101, then, was a

revelation. From the moment I

stepped on board it is clear she

has bags of stability. For two days

I foiled around, attempted some

foil gybes, bore away with leeward

heel, rolled off the foil to windward

and for the life of me, I couldn’t get

the boat even close to a capsize.

I had assumed that improved stability

would just stop me getting tired from

capsizing, but the effect is much deeper

than that. Trust in the boat quickly

evolves into skill development. An

attitude of ‘what happens if I luff/bear

away/sheet on/sheet out now’ quickly

established itself. Each time it went

wrong, there was little drama and I could

set off again knowing what I’d done

wrong and it never resulted in a swim.

I believe almost any halfway decent

sailor could get into an F101 and with

a bit of instruction be up and foiling

around. Not only that, but thanks to her

size, you can easily go sailing two-up

which means a relative beginner could

get up and foiling with an experienced

sailor in the front working the sheets.

And the sail area means foiling

happens in around 6-8 knots, while

furling the headsail keeps things sensible

further up range so you shouldn’t have

to wait around for ideal conditions.

As many will know, a foiler doesn’t

take off with any amount of leeward heel

as the T-foil produces negative lift and

sucks the hull down. Most sailors are

not great at sailing bolt upright, often

sailing at five degrees of leeward heel

even when they feel upright. Heeling

to windward, as is necessary to foil

upwind, will feel very alien to most. But

with the F101, you simply let the boat

sit on the central hull and windward

float and sail along like that until she

lifts up. It greatly reduces the feeling of

the boat being over the top of you and

Foiling around, for the life of me, I could not

get the boat even close to a capsize

62 Yachts & Yachting April 2018 yachtsandyachting.co.uk