Hydroptere Flying Yacht

The 60-foot Hydroptere sailing yacht can’t fly high above the water but, it can rise up and glide over waves instead of running through them allowing it to reach mind-boggling speeds. When the wind is at swift speeds, the carbon fiber ailerons stay in contact with the water while the rest of the boat flies over the waves.

Hydroptère has already crossed the Channel in just over half an hour. The yacht also has two world records in her booty, the 41.69 knots (48mph) over a distance of one mile, and 44.81 knots (51mph) over 500 meters. Alain Thébault, the brain behind the speedy yacht, hopes to achieve the 50 knot mark this winter.

A few figures
Lenght… 18 m
Span… 24,5 m
Mast height… 27 m
Lenght of the lateral foils… 6,5 m
Rudder height… 3,6 m

Mass when taking off… 6,5 tonnes (5-people crew)
Mass when navigating… 7 tonnes ( 800 Kg of ballast wind)

Nitrogen pressure in the strain absorbers… 160 bars

Main Sail… 165 m²
Main Sail - 1 reef… 138,5 m²
Main Sail - 2 reef… 11O m²
Gennaker surface… 184 m²
Solent surface… 94 m²
Staysail surface… 49 m²

Minimum wind speed necessary to take off… 12 knots
Maximum speed… 50 knots.

Measurement systems
The principle : A measurement system on board allows the sailors to know at the real time the values of the stresses exercised on all the strategic points of the boat. During each departure, a trial engineer, Jean Abribat, runs the whole acquisition chain. Then, he carries out a complete analysis of the records for a better understanding and anticipation of the restrains of the boat according to the different states of the sea, the wind and the sails.
Some visual and noise effects instantly notify them of the applied strengths and they can react accordingly. In addition to the knowledge of the in situ values, these fittings also aim at analysing afterwards the recorded data in order to compare them with the estimates of the simulator. The Hydroptère engineers will then be able to integrate the recorded data in the simulator in order to get the best projection of the theoretical behavior to plan the understanding of the real and to anticipate.

Actually, the Hydroptère doesn’t have any similar experience: everything is to be learnt about the strengths and attitudes of the engine at high speed. In that sense, we can say that the Hydroptère is a laboratory-ship thanks to which people will understand the phenomenon related to the hydrofoil sailing ships – stability, strength, cavitations, ventilation, vibratory phenomenon, material wear, flight dynamic in three dimensions…

The on-board system :
That system helps the recording of the data issued from the whole set of sensors and it reproduces the environmental context of the measure. It requires two measurement chains connected to a computer provided with a software for acquiring and handling the data, MAGALI designed by EURILOGIC.

The analogical chain registers 65 sensors set on various strategic points of the boat : draft, counter-plugs, stay…
- The tonnage bridges mainly measure the local stresses that help to deduct the efforts sustained by the equipped elements.
- The ring-shaped accelerometers measure the mono-direction speeding-ups
- The immersion sensors work according to the principle of an ultrasound emission reflected by the sea surface and they measure the altitude of the boat

The numerical chain registers the parameters of the environment in which the Hydroptère is evolving: speed of the boat, strength and azimuth of the seemingly wind, of the real wind, GPS position of the boat…
A software for acquiring and handling the data allows:
- The acquisition of the data issued both on the analogical and numerical chains
- The direct display with the emission of an alarm if necessary
- The storage of these data
- The processing of the data thanks to basic mathematical tools ou more powerful tools like the filtering or the Fourier transformation

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