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by spanktheuser 934 days ago
I have taken a several hour hydrofoil ride in the Mediterranean in moderate swells.

The ride is deeply nauseating as the foils are positioned towards the outside corners and (on this 200+ passenger craft) catch the swells independently. The result a ride with similar pitch and roll as a traditionally-hulled ferry, with far more yaw and far less periodicity.

1 comments

Mikael at Candela, the hydrofoil maker, here. Our P-12 uses submerged hydrofoils and emplys a digital Flight controller, which stabilizes the craft by adjusting the angle of attack of the foils 100 times per second. So the pitching and heaving you found nauseating in the old Soviet Raketa and Kometa hydrofoils don't exist in P-12 - it's smooth sailing even in. chippy weather. Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIp9OkMzZkM