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Clipper Ships
Imagine you are the captain of a clipper ship around the 1870s. Your job and livelihood depend entirely on getting your cargo, tea from China or wool from Australia, from one side of the earth to the other as quickly as possible. Your training and all your knowledge tells you that more sail means more speed. Records are set on a weekly basis. Ships like the Thermopylae leave Shanghai and arrived in London 115 days later. Not only is the feat astonishing, but it was worth an extra £50 bonus to her captain. Quite an incentive! Thus, you throw all your canvas out as soon as you can, trying to catch every wisp of wind. And out they stay. Only rounding the Horn or in the teeth of a force 10 gale do you consider shortening sail.
Had your owners known about aerodynamics, carbon fibre composites and computer-aided design, your journey from China to England might have averaged 25 knots instead of 6, and taken less than a month. Such wonders lie a century and a half away. I’m willing to wager that if Isambard Kingdom Brunel knew of such engineering delights, the Great Eastern would have taken on an altogether more modern look.
Foiling Around
This week all sorts of sailing modernity caught up with us in Gaeta. The Liberty Bitcoin Youth Foiling Gold Cup held its first grand prix here, hosted by our marina. The modern definition of ‘youth’ now extends to people up to 25 years old. For perspective, consider that Mary Queen of Scots ruled France at 16, and Greta Thunberg addressed the UN at the same age.
Nevertheless, the marina yard directly in front of Aleta has been full of young, fit, good-looking kids for a couple of weeks now. It’s a refreshing change from the usual complement of crusty cruisers and masked middle-aged marineros. In all, crews from eight countries participated, including the Tokyo 2021 United States Olympic Nacra 17 hydrofoil team.
The competition’s sailboats combine so many new technologies it’s a wonder they float at all. A single class design, each boat is identical and 6.9 metres long with a maximum beam of 4.6 metres, a draft of 1.7 metres, and a total displacement of a mere 350 kg. Aleta on the other hand is 12.3 metres long, 4.0 metres wide, has a draft of 1.9 metres, and displaces (wait for it) 11,159 kg. Unsurprisingly, the foils can reach speeds of 35 knots in 15+ knots of breeze.
Teams have 3 to 4 crew members, of whom at least one must be female. Before you ask, yes, there can be all female teams. To ensure fairness, teams change boats throughout the competition, ensuring success isn’t dependent on the technology. The Dutch took first place. A complete summary of the race can be found at this link: Liberty Bitcoin YFGC – Day 8.
Foil sailing favors the young, the strong, and the quick. From the shore there’s not much to see. Even through binoculars most of the action is too far away. This video will give you some idea of how crazy this sport can be.
Unravelling History
Chatting with my buddy Mark, he said there’s nothing more beautiful than a monohull slicing through the water on a sunny day off New England. That the America’s Cup with its huge sailing hydrofoils is nothing like as elegant as it was when Thomas Lipton was racing. They look like bugs swimming across the water.
What do I think? Do I love the elegance of tall ships and their evocative designs? Yes, of course! Do I think Dennis Conner would have built a sailing hydrofoil if it meant keeping the America’s Cup in New York in 1983? You bet I do.
For me there’s something compelling about undoing a few thousand years of received nonsense with science and design. Sailing three times faster than the wind in an ultra-lightweight vessel is exciting. As a first step towards a new breed of zero carbon clipper ships, this week was pretty awesome!
Racing Life in Gaeta
Ah, but does it scale? One might ask. Has anyone built a foilship of, say, 10,000 deadweight tons? And how well does it deal with rogue waves and flotsam containers? I expect the kind of foils shown here would damp out heavy rolling pretty quickly–assuming they don’t break. And oh yes, every right whale will have to be fitted with a smart AIS transceiver. Let’s start by modernizing Great Eastern as in your picture and see how she goes!
Excellent! Now we’re getting to a design spec. We could start by rebuilding the Great Eastern using 3D printed graphene sheets in place of steel. That should give an adequate strength to weight ratio.
Mike, Carol, I loved this post. Thank you for sharing. Such a respite from the winter’s end here in Wisconsin. Stay safe. Stay well.
Thanks Cindy – never fear, spring will spring soon!
Nothing like a bright sunny day by the water. Cape Cod will return to that soon! Thanks for the inspiration.
I gather you’ve missed most of winter on the Cape, too.