I posted this originally in the Hobie 16 section and had 52 people see it but got no replies..... Am I missing something like this is a fantasy and it really doesn't exist and everyone is laughing that I think it exists? What up?
Here is what I posted.... "Does anyone know a place where I could see in person, or better still get a ride in, a Hobie Trifoiler? Buy one? My 80 year old father in law who is a life long sailor and ice boater saw the video on my computer last night and is "on a mission" to find one and try it. He sees it as a way to ice-boat year round. He lives in the Northeast but will travel to do this....
Thanks!


The only thing to add is that the aformentioned father-in-law is currently out in the S.F. area and was only convinced to go so he could expand his viewing area looking for one of these.

Has anyone tried one?
Greg

hobie trifoiler video

Contact Sawyer at Key Sailing (877 932 7272). Go to this link to see the Trifoiler they have for sale. I bet if you give them some advance notice, they would rig the beast for you. These are good people so don't hesitate to contact them.

bob Klein

http://www.keysailing.com/sales/boat.htm

There was one that used to come out to the causeway here. In fact it wasn't Hobie then it was a Ketterman(spelling?)tri foiler. The guy that bought it came out a few times but I never seen it really fly. I think part of the problem was the shallow areas here. I think he kept breaking stuff hitting the bottom. He had a daughter that brought it out and she ran it aground breaking something.

I believe I heard it was for sale some time ago. I'll ask around and let you know or someone from this area may remember and comment.

One other thing about them, the original price of the Ketterman I believe was around 6-7 thousand. When Hobie started marketing it the price doubled. Also the one this guy bought I think was hull number six. I don't think it was long after that I heard it became a Hobie. Point is, if you can find one of the original boats it would be obviously quite a bargain.

I have also seen a roto-molded version of a hydrofoil with sails. I think it is called a Windrider. Maybe the company is Windrider. I'm not too sure. I don't know if they are still making them. There is one in the marina by my apartment, but I have never seen it move off it's flaot. The neigbors said it hasn't sailed at all this year.

It's the same idea as the trifoiler, but it has only one mast with a jib and main. It does look like it would be incredibly fast though.

Windrider Rave, but I dont think they are in production any more. The website shows them as discontinued.

http://www.windrider.com/

There were a few Raves around Florida, if you asked around enough you could problably locate one.

If Dean is out there(resident rave expert) he may comment on his feelings between the two, but if I had to choose I'd pick the tri-foiler. The rave's flight attitude is controlled by a joy stick that operates a flap on the back of the rudders T-foil and one small goof and it will nose in like a picthpole. On the tri-foiler the flight attitude is controlled by the sensor feet which moves the L shaped foils fore and aft. All automatic. The rudder has a T- foil and that's it. Less to do lets you concentrate on trim and steering. Plus it's a Hobie so you will be able to get parts easy........( in case you run aground)

My .02 cents

Greg, I know there was a guy in Dedham Mass. with one. He had it at the Buzzard a couple of times. I think he was selling it last year. Sorry I don't know his name. He said he had trouble finding good places to launch and sail. They broke something the last time I saw them out. I think they hit a rock with a foil. Maybe someone from fleet 28 will chime in that knows more.

This has been great info..... Thanks to everyone who chimed in. No one has mentioned actually riding/driving one. Why do you suppose that is? Doesn't it look like a blast?
Brian, do you think Rick Bliss might know this guy in Dedham?
Thanks again everyone,
Greg

I felt like I was going for a ride on one in a video that I found on this site (catsaior.com), years ago. It was posted in these forums and was entitled "Linda n Me." There was a high speed jibe included in this short film.
.avi

GARY

The Rave was developed here in Melbourne (Fl) at the Florida Tech marina. I sailed it a bunch of times around the intracoastal during development and it was a total blast. My max speed was 31 mph. You can pitchpole it if you try hard enough, but I never had that happen.

For a couple years they started buoy racing them in Florida, there were even special reaching courses for them at some events, but the wind never seemed to work out well. Same thing with the distance races, never seemed to get the right wind long enough. I raced one once in the Conch Cup in Miami, it was a long, slow ride.

Its a good boat to fun sail in the right winds. Setup with the special trailor is not too difficult. Ive never been on the Hobie version so cant comment on that.

The Rave for sale in Annapolis is #144 and he was selling it this year. I think he decided to keep it.

When I wanted a foiler, a Tri was hard to find beyond a page on the internet.

Before I bought my Rave I spotted the aforementioned TriFoiler on the Dunedin Causeway. I hung around for the owner to return to the boat, left a message, but we never hooked-up. I couldn't locate a TriFoiler to see and there was a Hobie dealer, no longer here, in Orlando. I bought my Rave, sight unseen, simply because it can be used more easily as a coastal cruiser, loaded with stuff for a weekend or a day, than the TriFoiler. The Tri is a more pure speed boat and has no pretensions to being a comfortable cruiser. The Rave has no pretensions to being "flying only". The Rave is an incredibly durable boat. They are both good designs but are different boats when it comes to describing their typical use. The one thing they have in common is that they fly.

Both boats suffered from a lack of a serious, sustained, supporting marketing effort. Rave production ceased in July of this year. The factory will support the Raves with parts for a couple of years. You could probably have one built for you if you contact Windrider. Used Raves are very hard to find. Most owners are "older", keep them for a couple of years and then tire of the assembly/disassembly needed onshore. In Florida, I can go an entire season sailing around the state's coasts without seeing another foiler.

The joystick on the Rave is used to control bow attitude and the boat can be flown quite easily without a 'stick or with the 'stick left in the neutral position. You learn to fly by not even touching the joystick. It is not overly sensitive. The 'stick was a "race option" on the first Raves produced; standard thereafter.

A pitchpole is so rarely reported that there has been much discussion on the Rave forums simply because most pilots have never experienced it. My one and only pitchpole in six years past occurred when a big gust near a lake shore hit while I was sailing very slowly waiting for a race start. The only few others that I know of happened with novice pilots in too much wind.

The Rave forum is here:
http://www.windriderforum.com

Go here for flying lessons:
http://www.windriderforum.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=5b6bc3389bc1fb7454e31946f781cad9

P.S.: For the Rave, if you live in a very cold climate the Rave aircraft aluminum frame contracts at a different rate than the High Density Polyethylene central hull which may result in a crack on the transom unless you keep the boat at a more moderate temp than the arctic winters in New Hampshire.

Greg, Rick Bliss might know the T Foil guy, but if it were a Nacra he would know him for sure.

Just to add my two cents, Both boat share a similar ride height/leveling system, the Rave uses trailing wands, the Tri-foiler uses forward floats. but both do the same thing, adjust the lift on the foils to keep the boat from heeling and to not fly up out of the water. The Tri-foiler tilts the one piece L-shaped foil, the Rave has a trim tab on a T-foil, the lower drag makes the Tri foiler faster, but limits how much chop it can handle. Both of them SUCK in kelp areas, on one strong day I got a huge kelp paddy on the leeward foil of my Rave, it yawed the boat into broad reach, and if I started to go out to clear it, the boat would start to flip! Used my trusty boat hook (never sailed without it on this boat)and was able to slowly clear it, but lost alot of room downwind, glad there was no lee shore. Pitchpoled it too, it will stabilize 3 bows straight down, leaving one to carefully climb out of the **** which is now ten feet up in the air!

Thank you everyone. This has been great info....
Also got an email from a guy named Brian at Mariner Sails Wind & Water Sports who wrote:

We don't currently have any leads on used Trifoilers. But we are actively looking. The demand for these boats since Hobie discontinued it has been amazing. Unfortunately, probably fewer than 200 were made, so we're having trouble. The owner (Aris) is maintaining a list of interested parties. If/when we get our hands on another one, we'll get the word out to everyone who's called/e-mailed us.

Thanks for your inquiry.
Brian

Then he followed with:
Aris (the owner of Mariner Sails) was one of the first Trifoiler owners. He spent a bunch of time working with Hobie and the Kettermans to iron out the early design issues. In the few years I've worked here, we've been
involved in about 8-10 Trifoilers. Because we saw so many of these boats, we joked for awhile that we were the only authorized Trifoiler repair and storage facility in the country.

That was very informative too so thank you Brian! Hopefully, I find one of these or a Rave to try sometime/someplace.

Thanks again everyone!
Greg

If you really want too much information, go here:
http://www.windriderforum.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=585

My "perfect personal fleet" would be an A-Cat and a foiler. I'm halfway there.

Dean,

Have you ever thought about organizing a sailing hydrofoil get together in Florida sometime? I can bring my TriFoiler if given enough notice. I live in Clearwater which is not too far from Orlando. My TriFoiler has been in moth balls for a while so it will take a little work to find all the pieces and put it back together again. Just don't schedule it on the same weekend as a major regatta in the state as I'll be racing one of my other multihulls. You also need to find a good location to hold the event. Seaweeds and shallow water are deadly to foilers. I have yet to find that perfect location. I do know that Dunedin Causeway is not the place!

Jennifer

I have the same water dilemma. Many assume that a foiler owner's toughest requirement is having enough wind. Wind ain't the problem; it's unbostructed water depth that we need more than anything.

It is amazing how thin the water is for most of the Florida coasts and our foilers are not really effective surf punchers to enjoy the deeper depths of the Gulf. A committed foiler owner will not sell his foiler. He simply buys a catamaran for the speed in light air. I'm even considering moving to a cold climate if I can find a place with a consistent eight feet of water along a long part of a coastal shore. (Pensacola would be great but I can't live there. God knows I tried...twice.)

Another hard part of living with a foiler is gathering enough pilots together for an event. We are really spread out geographically. It's been especially tough in the Rave community even so with the many Raves that were sold in Fla. Since our initial enthusiasm a few years ago, there have been attempts to gather but most owners don't respond. More accurately, NO owners respond. They are a solitary bunch which may simply be dictated by their eccentricity, distance, and work. Most pilots are empty nesters so, family obligations usually don't get in the way. BUT, we didn't know that there may be TriFoiler owners in the S.E. that might be interested in attending an event, as well. I will mention it on the Windrider Yacht Club forum and see what happens. Fall is a good time to foil in Florida because the water is still warm, the temperature won't roast you in the boat, and the windspeeds are great. The most convenient place for me to foil is due east of Orlando at the end of S.R. 528, Kelly Park on the Banana River. There are some facilities there with beach launching possible and a wide concrete launch, too, and it's a pleasant place. Too many crab trap floats will keep your crew busy.

I just got off the phone this morning with one of the developers of the Rave. He suggested that I try a new central hull for more speed while in displacement mode. It's the Rave's biggest hindrance. They had to design a hull that would float two people but hullspeed is unnervingly slow in displacement mode. I will be looking for a decent, used Nacra 6.0 hull to heavily modify for my Rave this fall or winter.

Hey Dean,
If it's possible I think I could be one of those comitted Trifoilers without ever actually sitting in one! Do you have any good thoughts about how I can entice someone to part with one that has sat in storage for long enough? Where would I advertise? In the windrider forum?
If you do get a regatta together I could see myself flying down to see it. Let me know.
Thanks
Greg

Jennifer has all the cool sailing toys. I'm guessing yours is the boat I was talking about? Have you thought about sailing off the north side of the Causeway? The water is consistently deep there. There are a couple places to launch.

What about Tampa Bay? I think the average depth there is around 15 feet.