Another Happy Birthday in the books! And this one is about windsurf foils! You might not even know what that is! I sure didn't before my friend introduced me to it! Windsurf foils are used on wind-surfboards through design development from Neil Pryde Maui, inventors of hydrofoil sailing "windsurfing" boards. Using a moderately sized sail, a foil windboard can achieve speeds over 6 knots faster than the apparent wind.
Still a bit confused? a Hydrofoil is a boat whose hull is fitted underneath with shaped vanes, or "foils", that lift the hull clear out of the water to increase the boat's speed. The first hydrofoil boat dates back to 1906. It was designed and built by the Italian Inventor, Enrico Forlanini. The foil design was made from the classic “Ladder” type construction which has muliple struts coming down with multiple wings between them. It had a 60 hp engine driving two counter-rotating air props and during testing in 1906, the craft reached a top speed of 42.5 mph.
The current world record speed for a person with a windsurf foil is 36.44 knots. That's 41.93 mph! The record was set by Nicolas Goyard, who broke his own previous record of 35.1 knots. Enthusiasts ae attempting to break the speed record of windsurfing (55 knots) with foils, hoping to decrease the drag of the foil in the water.
If you are still confused about what foiling is, you really should give it a look on youtube! It's like windsurfing but also flying at the same time!
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