Steve and Dave Clarks Unidentified Foiling Object

[Joseph Lapp]

I found another means to finish lines that don't melt - several drops of a cyanoacrylate glue.

Another question - does the thickness of the bungee cord at the top of the wand matter. I have some slightly thicker bungee than that which came with the UFO.

 

[pqbon]

I found another means to finish lines that don't melt - several drops of a cyanoacrylate glue.

Another question - does the thickness of the bungee cord at the top of the wand matter. I have some slightly thicker bungee than that which came with the UFO.

Crazy glue and then some sandpaper to polish off anything that is sharp and snaggy!

Its kind of like adding your own aglet to the line.

 

[martin 'hoff]

I found another means to finish lines that don't melt - several drops of a cyanoacrylate glue.

Another question - does the thickness of the bungee cord at the top of the wand matter. I have some slightly thicker bungee than that which came with the UFO.

You can also use "liquid electric tape". I had a season where I loved that, and I used it everywhere. It does drip while curing.

Bungee cord thickness matters (everything matters ) . One size up or down is probably ok.

 

[Dave Clark]

You can also use "liquid electric tape". I had a season where I loved that, and I used it everywhere. It does drip while curing.

Bungee cord thickness matters (everything matters ) . One size up or down is probably ok.

Size isn't neccessarily a big deal so long as the tension holds relatively even across the system. What it wants to do is.
1. Consistently kick forward when it loses grip with the water.
2.kick back easily when the wand is submerged
3. Be able to do #1 even when foiling upwind into a 20 knot breeze (so about 35 knots apparent wind).
-Really condition 3 and needing quick feedback on 1 rather than waiting for gravity to do it is the purpose of the bungee.

I have found in the past that foil control systems that don't go instantly into a corrective mode when the wand gets free are a lot less safe in flight. Much more surface breeching. It's funny. With foilers, touching down isn't a huge deal but skying really is. So it's the inverse of flying a plane. Getting up too high is to foilers as seeing the top of a tree is to aviators.


DRC

 

[LarryO]

Size isn't neccessarily a big deal so long as the tension holds relatively even across the system. What it wants to do is.
1. Consistently kick forward when it loses grip with the water.
2.kick back easily when the wand is submerged
3. Be able to do #1 even when foiling upwind into a 20 knot breeze (so about 35 knots apparent wind).
-Really condition 3 and needing quick feedback on 1 rather than waiting for gravity to do it is the purpose of the bungee.

I have found in the past that foil control systems that don't go instantly into a corrective mode when the wand gets free are a lot less safe in flight. Much more surface breeching. It's funny. With foilers, touching down isn't a huge deal but skying really is. So it's the inverse of flying a plane. Getting up too high is to foilers as seeing the top of a tree is to aviators.


DRC

Dave, as a reminder, what size/type bungee cord comes with our boats and is recommended? Thanks.

 

[Yichi Z]

This is Yichi, rigging the new UFO at MIT!
Unfortunately I lost one of the spreader tip, Dave, what size of spreader tip comes with the boat? same one with 420/FJ?

 

[Grith]

Hi All In trying out our UFO for the first time we have discovered our lake is just about 3 inches too shallow in places.
Is there a way the main foiler and rudder can be set up at half to 2/3rds height as the lake has a very flat bottom and the bottom is soft mud throughout.
Whilst the river about a mile away across the lake is deep it is a fair way to limp the UFO and is also infested with jet skis, skiers and wakeboards whilst the lake is a restricted area generally very flat and quiet at all times.

Also is there a way to buy the UFO cover when we are here in South Australia?

 

[P Flados]

Grith,

Normally a full down rudder will be lower (6" I think) than the main foil. You may want to raise up the rudder 6" and slowly sail around to try to "map out" a region of adequate depth. Then put out temporary markers when sailing to stay away from the shallower regions.

Be careful. At near foiling speeds I have had a couple of hard groundings with the main foil. The impact can be damaging to both the boat and the sailor. One shallowish area I sailed was mostly soft muck for a bottom. However, I recall "finding" an outcropping of hard clay.

I tried out drilling another hole in the main strut to allow operating the main foil with 1' less extension than normal as discussed https://forums.sailinganarchy.com/t...identified-foiling-object.176284/post-7033344.

With the main foil pinned in place but not full down, and the rudder raised up 1' from full down, foiling is possible, but the situation is not ideal. One issue is that the top of the strut/gantry assembly tends to bind up with the shrouds at times.

With a hole that was only 6" below the factory hole, the interference problem may be less.

 

[Grith]

Thanks for your advice. Our otherwise ideal lake adjoining our tiny canal development seems so ideal for learning foiling I may try the additional 6 inch lower hole in the main foil as the lake depth is so very close to adequate.
I have previously driven around the just over 1 kilometre square lake in my trailerable yacht which has both a depth sounder and fish finder sonar and will do some more extensive mapping using these to try to find any obstacles before deciding to drill any holes in the UFO.
Can anyone advise me about the need to maintain relativity in height between the main foil and rudder foil.
Ie. if the rudder foil is up around 6 inches and the main foil in its correct position will the UFO foil correctly?
To date it appears that just the slightly extra depth of the rudder has been what has managed to intersect the muddy bottom not the main foil.
It must be so close however that it would be nice to have a little more breathing room on the main foil depth.
PS As we are in pool one of The Murray river whose depth is controlled by barrages we only have a small wind generated depth fluctuation with the best south westerly sailing winds actually adding about 3 inches to the lake depth.

 

[P Flados]

You can probably get away with raising the rudder 6" with the main foil fully extended as long as you set you wand to be foiling 6" or more below full height (say 7" to 8" of the wand forward of pivot fitting).

If you do drill a new hole, you should probably raise the rudder the same amount the main foil was raised if you have the wand set "full height". If you want to raise the rudder a little more, just adjust the wand to reduce flying height the same amount.

Given the small size of your "home waters", have you considered a little covert muck removal.

 

[Grith]

You can probably get away with raising the rudder 6" with the main foil fully extended as long as you set you wand to be foiling 6" or more below full height (say 7" to 8" of the wand forward of pivot fitting).

If you do drill a new hole, you should probably raise the rudder the same amount the main foil was raised if you have the wand set "full height". If you want to raise the rudder a little more, just adjust the wand to reduce flying height the same amount.

Given the small size of your "home waters", have you considered a little covert muck removal.

Thanks for the advice.
I think dredging nearly a square mile of mud by about 1 foot in depth would be well beyond my limited financial capacity.🙂
Currently our side lake is about 4 foot in depth with a fairly flat soft muddy bottom except around the islands which were actually created from the dredge spoil from excavating to create the canals about 25 years ago.
Despite having a lake/river front home with pontoon jetty we are not wealthy as our area somewhere/nowhere has perhaps some of the cheapest direct waterfront homes with jetty’s anywhere in Australia.
Our values here are almost exactly the average house price across the whole of the USA being about US $3-400,000.
As for covert there are about 180 permanent residents who live here and there is no such thing as covert here!
To use an old saying everyone knows you by your first name and possibly what you did last night! 😂

 

[Kelly Federal]

Dumpster Phoenix
A few months ago, friends on this forum who were vacationing in Florida let us know about an abandoned UFO they saw in a community dockyard. After several inquiries and Venmo payments, and diplomacy, and logistics planning, this mysterious early-production version landed up here in Savannah with lots of questions of whether it would even be worth refurbishing or whether our $1k gamble would end up in a dumpster. It had been left out in the Florida sun uncovered for an untold amount of years, after all.

As we expected, it looked ROUGH, and it was missing a few pieces, including a proper sail (although it did come with the storm sail, strangely). Spare pieces I had saved up and Dave coming to the Spring Foiling Rally seemed to plug all the obvious gaps. Ben (who did all of the refurb work) got the boat foiling during the rally, but did experience some parts failures when the wind picked up. With the mounting costs that were accruing in getting this neglected boat up to speed, it was still undetermined whether it was destined for the dumpster or whether it would reliably fly again.

I'm happy to report that that little boat is being regularly and happily foiled by Ben here in Savannah. It's name, of course, is the combination of the only two nouns ever associated with the boat, "Dumpster Phoenix." Credit to Cary Palmer who was the first human on this planet to ever put those two names together, I believe.

Dumpster Phoenix needs and will get some upgrades in the future; but the point of that little boat (and this story) is that foiling boats are accessible. You don't have to be super rich to do this. Take a peek at Ben raging around on Dumpster Phoenix this past Friday:

 

[LarryO]

Woohoo! Weather forecast for Fri-Sat shows from current highs of 40s-low 50s it may hit 70-72F. Wetsuit is ready so just need to rig the boat. It's been in winter storage and I thought everything was ready to go so today I took over the mast, rudder and rear wing. Tomorrow I'll add the front foil, wing, and wand. (Oh, it's safely kept in a locked boatyard)

However it appears that one of the two rectangular metal pieces - about 1/2” long is missing. I really want to sail this weekend, so what can I use instead? And won't the other one suffer the same fate?

 

[LarryO]

Anyone have a suggestion on this? The button that pops into the hole in the mast to secure the top piece doesn't want to pop out. With a long screwdriver I can get it to pop out and stay out BUT as soon as I push it to slide the lower mast piece over it, it gets stuck again in the recessed position. I had to poke, pry, prod, pound, swear at, sweet-talk, and coax it to finally get it to push out and hold the top part in place. McLube? Silicon grease? Or do I need a new piece that has more spring in it?

 

[john milani]

Woohoo! Weather forecast for Fri-Sat shows from current highs of 40s-low 50s it may hit 70-72F. Wetsuit is ready so just need to rig the boat. It's been in winter storage and I thought everything was ready to go so today I took over the mast, rudder and rear wing. Tomorrow I'll add the front foil, wing, and wand. (Oh, it's safely kept in a locked boatyard)

However it appears that one of the two rectangular metal pieces - about 1/2” long is missing. I really want to sail this weekend, so what can I use instead? And won't the other one suffer the same fate?
View attachment 588235

I lost mine too... took a steel L bracket and hacksawed off a piece at the end (it was the right width, and glued it in place... yes... i know it isn't stainless, but it was a quick fix.

 

[john milani]

Hello UFO Foilers,

I've learned a tremendous amount about sailing technique, maintenance, repair, and tuning during many Hobie 16 regattas.

When my 1978 Hobie finally died, I found the UFO, but didn't know a thing about sailing it.

And then I found the Sailing Anarchy UFO thread and I learned a bit more.

And then I found the unofficial UFO guide and I learned a lot more.

And then I attended the UFO rally in Savannah last March, and my learning went through the roof!

I also rediscovered the feeling of camaraderie from a community of folks with a shared passion.

The two highlights of learning during the regatta were:

1) Kelly Federal's excellent presentation on UFO Sailing 101: The Envelope. Kelly, complemented with input from Dave, gave all a primer on how sailing the UFO is different than a non-foiling boat, and with that knowledge, how to keep your UFO in the envelope that gives you the best performance.

2) Individual instruction on the boats from Kelly Federal and Dave Clark - two of the most experienced UFO foilers around.

Kelly has graciously offered to do a presentation of UFO Sailing 101: The Envelope, in a live teams session on Saturday, May 27, at 12 Noon Eastern time. A Q&A session will follow. Click here to download and then add the invite to your calendar.

Alternatively, click or paste the link below into your browser to join at the time of the event. Note: you may want to download Microsoft Teams in advance to have the best experience.

Link to Teams Meeting for UFO Sailing 101: The Envelope
Click here to launch the meeting at the proper time

OR paste the below into your browser at the proper time:
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetu..."Oid":"afd463b9-8b7c-4530-ada1-4951f04d4d58"}


If you miss the meeting, no worries! A link to the recording will be posted on this thread and will also be available for viewing on the UFOSailing.com website.

We look forward to having you join into the discussion!

John Milani

 

[LarryO]

I lost mine too... took a steel L bracket and hacksawed off a piece at the end (it was the right width, and glued it in place... yes... i know it isn't stainless, but it was a quick fix.

View attachment 588383

Thanks for the idea! I found something similar and will do the same thing. I took my boat out yesterday "as is" and there was no noticeable slop or sideways movement, so I'm now wondering just how important that little piece actually is....

 

[Lloyd.exe]

Hi, the clip that holds the front foil up (the one that swivels round) has unscrewed while I was sailing and has now been lost to the depths.

Is there a CAD file I can use to 3D print another one and screw it on? Is the a place I can buy a replacement? Thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Lloyd

 

[Kelly Federal]

Last week was a rare occurrence here in Savannah: five straight days of 20+ knots of breeze. Believe it or not, I had to take a knee on the fifth day as my body was starting to protest. On one day in which the winds were around 30+ knots, I decided to try out the small sail for the first time. What a difference!!! Normally, I'd be in a constant state of de-powering with that kind of wind; but now with this sail in my bag of tricks I'll never again be intimidated by high-wind days. Since you're dealing with a smaller wing area, you do need larger trim inputs to control angle of bank, but it's a small, small price to pay for control and speed.

I'll be back out there again this evening with Ben on the Dumpster Phoenix. In the meantime, enjoy...

 

[Kelly Federal]

..oh, yeah...
When Ben showed up, we had one of the most epic back-and-forth drag race sessions ever!