The french are at it again, crazy boat goes crazy

http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=48207
Link to French article...
(Babelfish translation)
" The Hydrofoil capsized with 55 knots
AFP
21/12/2008 | Update: 12:01
The Hydrofoil, trimaran with foils, capsized today off Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône (Rhone delta) where it tried to beat the speed records absolute with the veil.
The crew, composed of nine people, is healthy and except and the operations of towing were in hand at the end of the morning.
Hydoptère capsized then was turned over to approximately 400 m of the coast, the mast and the foils, kind of wings on which the trimaran floats above the sea, finding itself under water.
Caused by the swell then a gust of wind, the damage occurred whereas the Hydrofoil reached 55 nodes. Stabilized on 500 m, this speed would have constituted the world records with the veil.
The record is currently held by the French Alexandre Caizergues who reached a constant speed of 50,57 nodes out of 500 meters with his kitesurf in Namibia on October 5."

WoW!!!

Sail big; crash big.

Multihull sailing: the original extreme sport.

full marks for effort and getting the crew out in 1 piece

hope the bmw oracle DOG boys can pucker up for some big runs soon

Here's a video from the same day: http://www.hydroptere.com/loader_vi...a/videos/Chavirage%20site%20internet.flv

Look at those white caps, got to be 30 kts.

Wind conditions were pretty though with an established wind at 35-38 knots and gusts at over 45 knots off Napoléon beach at Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, which is the speed base of l’Hydroptère, certified by the WSSRC.

That’s in these conditions that the trimaran started the first full speed run of the day. Taking advantage of the established wind, the speed progressively increased: 50, 55 and then 61 knots at top speed!

The squall that provoked this acceleration was really powerful and resulted in l’Hydroptère’s capsizing.

from sail-world

I couldn't get the vidio link to work but i found this 8 min of footage from that day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgNtPETcta4