No discussion of hydrofoils is complete without addressing their application to the 2013 America’s Cup yachts. Catamarans screamed across the ocean. But with all that excitement, we sometimes forget how the crew jeopardized their lives in every race. This article presents an engineering perspective on the America’s Cup hydrofoils of 2013, with options for improvement.
Why would an airplane company design a ship? When considering hydrofoil ships, aircraft share many of the same requirements. More specifically, every hydrofoil vessel needs a method of motion control, even sailing hydrofoils. This article discusses the problem of hydrofoil control and several solutions.
Stability and seakeeping are frequently misunderstood. To understand the limits of these sciences, we must unveil the motivation behind their development. How to guarantee ship safety on an uncertain ocean?
Monohull, catamaran, trimaran . . . so many choices. Which hullform to pick? Can we draw upon any science to guide our choices, or shall we beg Lady Luck to guide us? Although hullform selection does involve some experience and artistic preference, naval architects...
Today, I invite you to imagine a wonderful new future for sailors: a technology that delivers cheap and reliable vessel communications with land. Bandwidth high enough for every sailor to enjoy daily video conferencing with their loved ones. I see a possibility for...
You may have noticed that any files downloaded from the website returned blank zip files. This was an error with the downloads pointing to incorrect paths on the file server. It was not any attempt to deceive you or claim to have content which does not exist. I have...