The forerunners
On the 3rd of December 1869, a French inventor by the name of Emmanuel Denis Farcot registered a patent. His vision was to create an effect for high-speed boats that would raise the hull on a parallel, in order to reduce the drag.
The idea of the hydrofoil was born at this time, Emmanuel Denis Farcot having opted for the installation of numerous small foils along the hull so as to lift it up and reduce the drag.
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The Wright Brothers, precursors of American aviation, invented the first aeroplane. In 1907, they succeeded in lifting off the ground a catamaran equipped with booster planes.
Other attempts would follow.
Italians, English and Americans would all embark on this flying sailboat race.
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In 1918-1919, Alexander Graham Bell, the American inventor of the telephone, and his workmate F.W. Baldwin carried out new experimental work on motorised hydrofoils, called hydrodromes – HD or hydrofoil craft.
In 1919, the HD-4 prototype established a speed record of 70.86 miles/hour (114.04 km/h), which it held for over ten years.
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HD-4 of Graham Bell in 1919
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For more than forty years, the system particularly attracted designers of motorised ships, who, one after another, would take on calm-water speed records.
In 1951, another American by the name of Wright achieved a real feat: he assembled two canoe-hulls equipped with booster planes, added a sail and set forth for a “flight” over the sea that would last for “quite a long minute”.
At the same time as Mr. Wright, another American, J.G. Baker, designed the Monitor for the U.S. Navy from 1950 to 1956, which achieved, according to documented information, the speed of 38 knots, an incredible speed for the time.
Several years later, a Flying Dutchman was equipped with hydrofoils without modifying the structure. Her top speed was thus increased by five knots.
Then, simultaneously, the Navy and the Maritime Transport developed a hydrofoil technique that had the advantage of increased stability and greater speed.
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In the 1960’s, HMCS Bras d'Or 400, an experimental hydroptère, was designed by the Canadian Royal Navy for the detection of soviet submarines.
46.5 meters long, 6.55 meters wide, 19.8 meters wing span with her supporting wings and 200 tonnes are the technical characteristics of the motorised hydroptère which could attain speeds of 12 knots on the hull and 50 to 60 knots on the wings.
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This Golden Arm was by far the most advanced of her era, but the project was abandoned, operating costs were too high and the necessary adjustments were too many.
Subsequently, research would result in the production of smaller crafts.
A French pioneer of hydrofoil sailing boats, Claude Tisserand, began studying this subject in 1964. In May 1966, trials were begun on the Veliplane I, a trimaran 4.50 meters long that attained 15 knots and demonstrated the possibilities of the concept.
At the beginning of the seventies, James Grogono experimented with a Tornado on hydrofoils, the Icarus, that participated several times in the Brest speed week and established in 1970 a record of an average of 22.20 knots over 500 meters.
In the mid-1970’s, Eric Tabarly had already imagined and designed a trimaran on hydrofoils, but it was impossible to make her with the materials of the time. She would have to wait for the arrival of composite materials.
In 1979, he built the trimaran Paul Richard, equipped with a hydrofoil, on which he would, in spite of the weight of the aluminium, beat the mythical record for crossing the Atlantic, held at that time by Charlie Barr.
Hydrofolie, designed by Xavier Joubert, was launched in 1979 for Alain Labbé and Loïc Caradec.
At the end of the 1970’s, Roland Tiercelin launched Trimama, an aluminium foiler with three masts, one on each hull.
In July 1992, the American trifoiler, the Long Shot, smashed the world record for speed for 500 meters, Category A, with an average of 43.55 knots.
In 1997, the French catamaran, Techniques Avancées, established a Class D record over 500 meters with an average of 42.12 knots, which she would hold until April 2007, the date of l’Hydroptère’s two world records.
