50 knots possible

Early indications are that Alain Thébault's extraordinary foiler L'Hydroptere is on track for the outright world speed record

On her second outing since being relaunched the radical French foiler trimaran L'Hydroptere was recorded sailing at 43 knots. This performance galvanised the view of the crew as to the strong potential of this extraordinary craft followed her impressive first outing. 43 knots came close to breaking the boat's existing record of 44 knots.

Pollux, navigator summarized the second day of sailing: “We left in 20-22 knots of northwesterly wind under one reef and solent. This sail configuration enabled us to validate our impressions after the first day: the new floats help reduce nose-diving. Instead of this, the floats 'rebound' on the water and come out again without slowing the boat. We reached 43 knots easily, which indicates the great power of the boat. The wind then weakened, so we decided to test the full mainsail with solent and then the gennaker. The new sails are superb. The boat takes off very quickly and makes its own apparent wind.

"Today, L'Hydroptere is very powerful and its large speed potential is due to its new sail plan. We must now learn how to control this animal…”

Alain Thébault, skipper of L'Hydroptere added: “Second time out, 43 nodes…! A beautiful reward for our Swiss team of sailors and engineers. I am really very proud of them and the impressive work which they have achieved. I think that the speed potential of our carbon fibre bird ranges from now on between 45 and 50 nodes. Our three lines of work are now bearing fruit: The increase in the torsional stiffness of the crossbeams made by Nantes Airbus and the chantier B&B in La Trinite-sur-Mer is really very perceptible. Steering is easier and much finer but always requires much attention and vigilance because the acceleration is really very fast from 10 to 43 knots. The stepped floats created by Jean Mathieu, my right hand man, with the assistance of Philippe Perrier and Philippe Roulin, are wonderful in the waves. Lastly, the mast and sails combination fills the aerodynamic gap which we had. The black veils (made in carbon) made by incidences are amazing. The power and their aerodynamic smoothness are greatly increasde. It remains for to be able to control our impetuous jewel. After two or three weeks of testing, we will gradually build up over the course of this winter towards the 50 knots barrier under sail. To start, the WSSRC record in our category is 42.12 knots and appears achievable to me before the spring but I am starting to dream seriously about the absolute speed record under sail (of 48.7 knots).”