If all goes well, a Whisper cat will arriving soon in Miami (FL). I've sailed plenty of cats, dinghys and keelers, but have no hands-on foiling experience. Not scared to learn the hard way, but still...

Tips, tricks from folks who have done it? Trimming recommendations?

I wish! Just sayin'.

--
Tom
NACRA 5.7 (1984 Sail 181)
Pennsylvania
--

martin_langhoff

If all goes well, a Whisper cat will arriving soon in Miami (FL). I've sailed plenty of cats, dinghys and keelers, but have no hands-on foiling experience. Not scared to learn the hard way, but still...

Tips, tricks from folks who have done it? Trimming recommendations?

Martin,

Welcome to TheBeachcats.com, I've been following all the foiling catamaran development news that I can. Is this the same Whisper developed in the UK? Is this the only website?
http://whispercatamaran.weebly.com/

On that site they have a video of sailing with large T-Foils on a boat with a standard crossbeam, but the pictures of development show a mold and drawings where the boat has integrated crossbeams.

Can you tell us more about your boat? Are you involved in the development or marketing of it?

--
Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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Found this video from Harken at a boat show that shows the one-piece version of the Whisper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dspVWjrgP3A

In the video the rep mentions an active Facebook page for the boat, but I can't find it.

I have serious doubts that the large T-Foil With Attached Wand system will be a competitive (from marketing and speed perspectives) system because of the increased drag and complexity of the wand and and t-foils.

--
Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

How To Create Your Signature

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I believe there is only 1 whisper in the country, and not many worldwide. It will sail differently than anything you have sailed previously. A big change will be heading up in the puffs downwind until you are up on the foils, then you can start heading down in the puffs. No idea how she'll go upwind!

Good luck and photos are appreciated! Don't get frustrated is my other piece of advice!

Also interested,
It is built by White Formula, UK

Website:
http://www.whiteformula.com/WhiteFormula_UK/Whisper.html

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/WhiteFormula-UK-1516050892015977/?fref=ts



Edited by johmsmith on Oct 27, 2016 - 12:37 PM.

Martin,
I don't know what your sailing background is. The Whisper looks like a cool boat, Like Damon said, not as fast as most foiling cats but quite a bit easier.
The only tip I'm going to give you is what I require when I sell a Nacra 20 FCS...Get coaching.
We typically throw in one free day.
I'm a pretty experience F18 racer and I wish I could have gotten coaching the first couple days out. It's taken a lot longer to learn without it, definitely not as fun of a learning process when it's slower.

There are guys in Miami that would take you out for probably $300 a day.
The FCS manual also says don't go sailing in 15 knots until you've sailed the boat 10 times. These boats are different animals in 8,10,12,15, 18, 20+... you need to learn to sail in all of it and it's helpful to sail with someone else that really gets it.
If you want a coach, email me todd@nacrasailing.com
-Todd Riccardi

Martin,
I don't know what your sailing background is. The Whisper looks like a cool boat, Like Damon said, not as fast as most foiling cats but quite a bit easier.
The only tip I'm going to give you is what I require when I sell a Nacra 20 FCS...Get coaching.
We typically throw in one free day.
I'm a pretty experience F18 racer and I wish I could have gotten coaching the first couple days out. It's taken a lot longer to learn without it, definitely not as fun of a learning process when it's slower.

There are guys in Miami that would take you out for probably $300 a day.
The FCS manual also says don't go sailing in 15 knots until you've sailed the boat 10 times. These boats are different animals in 8,10,12,15, 18, 20+... you need to learn to sail in all of it and it's helpful to sail with someone else that really gets it.
If you want a coach, email me todd@nacrasailing.com
-Todd Riccardi

Keep the boat flat, heel will kill your lift. First thing I struggled with on a foiling boat.

--
Greenville SC

Offering sails and other go fast parts for A-class catamarans
--

I've seen the Whisper in person and even been in the factory; although kinda cool, I think there are some design "issues" and better options available IMO.

I had two main areas of concern with the boat, first, the wands trailing the foils means that the boat is always behind the curve so to speak. There is some interesting research on the subject that explains why having the wand forward of the foil is better. The second thing that worried me was the shape of the dagger foils; they are tapered and don't fit snugly into the trunk, so as you pull them up, I'd be worried that you'd ding up the trailing edge.

Have you looked at the S9? There are two in the US so far and another container of seven will be arriving this weekend (Nov 5th). Two are headed to Ft. Walton Beach, while the rest will be here in Texas as far as I know. I think that two of the Texas boats are still for sale, but can't say for certain.

With regards to sailing a foiler, what bacho said is key, have to keep it flat. Also, it's a balancing act with the sheet and the foils; ease too much sheet and you might foil the boat over on top of you.

robbie daniels gives lessons and clinics in clearwater florida
http://www.redgearracing.com/9.html

He also trained the US Olympic teams on N17's

(I am sure Todd is a great choice too)

Martin,
Did you get a Whisper? Sailed the boat in Annapolis, great boat, easy to sail and easy to foil.
Hardy

DamonLinkous

Welcome to TheBeachcats.com, I've been following all the foiling catamaran development news that I can. Is this the same Whisper developed in the UK? Is this the only website?
http://whispercatamaran.weebly.com/

On that site they have a video of sailing with large T-Foils on a boat with a standard crossbeam, but the pictures of development show a mold and drawings where the boat has integrated crossbeams.

Can you tell us more about your boat? Are you involved in the development or marketing of it?

Thank you for the warm welcome! For some reason I didn't get emails on this traffic (maybe I didn't click the right checkbox), so it's been a few days.

Yes, that's the cat we're talking about. If you follow their Facebook page you'll see a cat being built and shipped almost every week, seems like foiling cats (Whisper and S9) are on fire in Europe. I understand there's two Whispers in the USA so far.

Answering a couple questions I've seen in the thread...

- The two crossbeams are integrated, it's surprisingly rigid and light.

- Yes I looked at the S9, and had several positive interactions with the distributors in Texas. However, my family wants to come sailing too, that's two grownups and a 6yo boy (who confidently sails solo on a Taz). The S9 is damn tempting, but a very solitary boat. Also, the Whisper has 3 sails! I can only sail a single-sailed boat for so long before getting bored.

- Trailing wands vs leading wands -- I understand the reasoning, but honestly I think it's overblown; you really don't want to be adjusting for the wave, as it's way short-lived (leading or trailing, it's a losing game); you want to be adjusting for average ride height, and once you look at them in action (in dry) it's clear they dampen plenty, and don't adjust all that much except for extreme positions (boat not foiling, boat foiling high). And that's as it should be.

One of the important tradeoffs wrt trailing vs leading wands is simplicity -- and the trailing wand mechanism is damn simple, and housed entirely in the foil itself.

(I'm not an authority on this (-: just my observations, in the sense that trailing vs leading wand is a multifaceted story, with tradeoffs involved where sailing it beats theorizing...)

The boat arrived a week ago. We rigged it mostly to completion, but it took a while as we were shorthanded and inexperienced. I've sailed (then taught) optis as a kid, then sunfish, lasers, hobiecats, Dart 16, all sorts of keelers (20f to 60f), cruising cats, even tall ships, but somehow never had to bring up a mast shorthanded. Took a few more tries than expected, with a few, um, crash-landings.

Weather was shitty and we had to tear it down before sundown, so we didn't touch the water. Joy and frustration all around.

Our next try at rigging it up will be in 2 weeks' time; and hopefully I'll have the boat in a location where I can leave it rigged. Getting the mast up, rig tensions right, etc is an unforgiving job I don't enjoy.

It dances on the dolly, it's so light. Once it's all rigged up, it'll be a joy to launch it with one crew. From the feel of it, I can probably launch it solo with a bit of practice.

So far, my only overall concern is that having those T foils seems treacherous. Can't approach a dock on the side as you'd normally do. Some things will need re-learning. Some docks and ramps I won't be able to use.

As someone noted in this thread, you can damage the wands pulling up the foils. Manual recommends pulling up the foils only when stopped.
@bacho - thanks for the recommendation, yes I see everyone strives to go flat flat flat in all the videos. I had picked up on that, but having a clearly worded recommendation is fab, thanks.

How will I fare, with no formal coaching? Hard to tell. I've sailed a Dart 16 lots on the wire; that's the closest thing I've done. Will report back on successes and bruises.

If anyone's in Miami, happy to trade some time on the boat for some help rigging it up, and on your boat, whatever it might be. I already have a Moth sailor who's agreed to teach me some Moth foiling

Got my Whisper in the water yesterday. Good fun, but no flight yet. Being the very first time out, we didn't set up the spinnaker... and the wind waned. In the gusts it hummed, wanting to start lifting, but the gusts vanished...

Observations...

- The foils are sturdy! We hit some grassy sandbars, all is well.

- The main sheet runs odd, from a block on the boom to your hand.

- Some aspects of the rigging I haven't quite wrapped my head around yet. Main downhaul control lines end up running under the trampoline and to bungees. Fun to set up, and discuss over beers...

- Having the foils sticking out on the side means you can't tie the cat to a dock, nor a boat, unless the foils are down and you know the shape of things under water very well. For me in the short term this means launching is limited to a beach.

- All the setup around having the foils up, or down, is quite clever. And when you don't lock/lash them down, they slide up. This is natural, once you realize that's their job.

Any Whisper sailors reading? I'm hoping to trade notes on...

- Foil angle on the worm drive (we started at 3)

- Tuning of the wand mechanism / ride height reg

I also see a thread about the S9. If I'm reading things right, both boat makers have containers coming to the USA in coming months. Things are about to get interesting, I hope.


~m



Edited by martin_langhoff on Nov 21, 2016 - 07:58 PM.