Breaking foils…
So here’s a question… why are so many of the new hydrofoil Moth
foils
breaking up?
Every other week I hear and read stories to major failures, from
breaking complete T-joins, to ripping off trailing edges to
breaking linkages and push-rods. The Stevo’s would have to take the
record for the number of breakdowns… with Andrew claiming the
record for 15 major structural failures in the past 12
months!
Now Moths have always been pretty fragile boats for sure. There’s
not a major championship where someone hasn’t lost a rig, or wings,
or something else. It just seems that after a prolonged period
where professionally built boats didn’t break - we’re coming back
to the bad old days of lots of development - and lots of
failures.
I guess it just goes with the territory. Things are developing
quickly, and some ideas won’t work. Maybe the manufacturers need to
tighten up their warranty conditions to avoid going bust under the
weight of repair costs…
Maybe I should learn how to carbon things up for myself! I’m lucky
not to have broken a set yet - but since I don’t own any (yet)
that’s hardly suprising!
