Whisper Foiling Catamaran in Biscayne Bay, Miami, FL

In November 2016 I got my hands on a Whisper Foiling Catamaran from WhiteFormula UK. A cool foiling catamaran. Although I had been sailing since a kid on all sorts of boats, including catamarans, I had no experience with a current high performance catamaran.

A state of the art performance catamaran has lots of tricks and details; a foiling boat has a few more. These notes cover the adventures of this Miami-based captain and crew in figuring out a powerful boat.

Things we learn about the boat

Standing and lowering a mast

You can stand and lower the mast with just two people. The technique is seen in this youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxctIJVOAd0 ; with the following notes:

• use the trapeze wires, extended with ropes that run through pulleys attached at the bridle wire hooking points, and made fast in the 2 cam cleats by the mast (jib sheet, spinnaker tack)
• put the boat on an incline, on the beach dolly just aft of the foils, stern on the ground.
• Captain pushes the mast up, similar to the video, all the way through. It’s better to stand on the crossbeam than on the trampoline, though final push happens on the trampoline.
• Crew starts holding the mast down so it doesn’t snap off the ball (careful!). Once the mast has some angle, crew moves from holding the mast down to pulling the lines; this stabilizes the mast and gives the capt a break between pushes.

It’s also possible to do it with the stern up, it’s harder to start, easier towards the end.

Rig

• Installed these to manage stay tension - https://shop.hamiltonmarine.com/products/adjuster-lever–25-qr-up-to-1-8–wire-wl-1800–20260.html – with them it’s reasonably easy to get the right pressure on the rig.
• Painted the ends of the two screws in the forestay adjuster, inside the thread, with a permanent marker. When easing, this gives you fair warning before your run out of screw… we also tie it up before easing.
• Why does the manual say: first set the mast rake, and *then* set the tension with the under-the-trampoline rig? How can one get decent tension pulling with bare hands? Instead, what we do is:
  • Set the forestay a bit longer than final position
  • Open up the stay adjusters on the stays
  • Pull and set the under trampoline bridle wire
  • Close up the stay adjusters
  • Measure tension
  • Set forestay to desired position
  • Measure tension
• Good discussino on fitting stuff to a carbon mast / rig - http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=91747 - screws, rivets, epoxy…
• Running a ropes / lines through very tight holes/fittings http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2391516
• Put a stopper knot on the main halyard line.

Recovery

This boat did not include a recovery line. However, the spinnaker line worked a charm, so we got an identical line. We tie it up in the middle, on the mast base. This provides two lines for recovery. When we need to use it, we tie a couple of knots on it. Doubles up as docking line.

Hull, beach wheels, carbon repairs

• Hulls are incredibly light and… fragile! We’ve damaged them slightly just in handling the beach wheels.
  • Use the West Systems carbon fiber repair kit, plus some light sanding paper… works wonders

Safe handling of the beach wheels. We place the beach wheels aft of the main foils for better balance; this makes them hard to remove on the ramp. Our technique is:

• slide the beach wheels from right aft of the foils to aft
• get under the catamaran, under the trampoline
• lift the boat with your back pushing under the trampoline; simultaneously push the beach wheels down under water
• rotate the axle so that the cups are no longer under the hulls, ensure the cups have clearance from the hulls so they don’t collide

Foils

• White Formula ships the bungees in the foils untied so they don’t stretch. You must pull them a bit tight and make a knot.
• How do you assess / set the trim for ride height with the foils inserted, and pulled up, boat out of the water?
  • Folks at WhiteFormula say the “3mm” measurement should be made between the control surface and the foil, at the outermost point of the control surface, should be a 3mm gap with the control surface pointing up.

Rudders

• The rudders are not identical. The hole for the pin only lines up when you’ve put them right. We found this (and fixed this) when we were deep in the water; much better to do this before launching!

Main / Boom

• Hoisting/lowering is similar to many hobies and nacras – there’s a ring on the halyard, and a hook on the mast. This may need some practice and/or adjustments. Technique here - http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=371
• The Harken ratchamatic block wears out. Harken has kindly replaced mine.

Things we learn about sailing it

• The ratchamatic block position doesn’t give enough grip (the sheet doesn’t wrap around it enough) when held by the crew standing a bit forward – crew can stand further back.
• Running aground is a PITA. The foils are very sturdy however, and our sandy/grassy bottom has not damaged them.
• Really needs a beach to handle all the foil setup. Ramps have not been practical so far; and the foils extending outwards make any dock approach dangeorous.
• Jib halyard setup is a PITA. We lose the halyard and have to lower the mast way too often. We have changed the sacrificial halyard for a thicker one, and added Ronstan ‘shock’ pulleys both to run ropes through and to add weight so the halyard doesn’t fly up at the slightest error.
• Trapeze bungee setup needs to zig and zag a but under the trampoline to avoid bungees snapping when stretched in a capsize.
• Mast rotator cleat on the boom needs better rivets
• Skipper only holding tiller needs an extra line to pull self back towards boat when trapezing through some swings, added a line…

Log

• Jury-rigged spinnarker pole striker line, as temporary fix
• Fully rigged spinnaker, and sailed it… FUN :-)
• Added line for skipper to pull self from trapeze into tramp
• Fixed boom cleat (again!) with rivets that open like a flower; normal rivets don’t expand enough to hold
• Changed the sacrificial halyard for a thicker one, and added Ronstan ‘shock’ pulleys.
• Trapeze bungees now zigzag under the trampoline, for more stretch.
• Changed carbon striker – after a ton of drilling and hammering to make it fit. Mfg sent a replacement part, as it had arrived broken.
• Changed stay tensioners, new ones have levers for easier tensioning.
• Fixed boom cleat with SS rivets, using nuts to as spacer for riveter
• Fixed wand after breakage
• Changed worn out ratchamatic
• Replaced mast rotator – carbon part broke on accidental mast fall.