As the only one in the whole US of A who has tried this fun and exciting developmental change on cats, I feel somewhat qualified to comment. See www.fastsail.com/catcobbler for illustrations (no video yet)

Despite the somewhat overdesigned surface-piercing extruded aluminum hydrofoil sets that I have, they still work pretty well, and I have flown Hobie 18s, Hobie 16s and the little wooden-A cat seen in my thumbnail as a signature. Prindles next!

The images from Australia are wonderful. The 37 second 2-Moth clip of John (Ilett?) and Glen shows well the foiling process & how to fly at speed... The 9297 Moth in the foreground is going fast but rises up too high, loses lift and crashes as the skipper sheets out a bit, allowing the Moth with yellow trim to pass. But 9397 gets up again in a few seconds and accelerates to top speed to catch up. I do the same thing with a foiled cat, same process and the same fun.. Crashing is straight ahead and has NEVER resulted in a pitchpole in 5 years. You don't need to trapeze with surface-piercing foils either, as the foils lift the lee hull & keep the rig right side up.

Note some Moth sailors now complain that foiled Moths have ruined everything: the older Moths were little flat scows, and these scow sailors complained that new modern skinny balancing-act planing boats ruined their sport. Now some of these skinny-boat sailors are complaining that the foilers have ruined their sport. So- take a look at the Aussie pic of 5 Moths flying while coming off the start line and then tell me how their sport was ruined!

Discussion like this in the winter is great- lets hear more.
I don't expect much action from Americans anymore.... Somehow in the 21st Century, they want to stick with the store-boughten ol' TRIED and TRUE! I'm surprised that even a few carbon fiber masts are allowed here....we should all have oak planks & wooden masts on our racing displacement monohulls, and you can't beat stone ballast.

DAve CArlson