Ever since the last America's Cup racing, more and more boats are attempting to get foil-borne. Here is one of the lastest French timarans
Gitana is just a test bed. There will be a 2nd foil generation in fall, then they take their development work and scale it up for the Ultimé they want to build for 2017. Those will be all kinds of interesting. (A new French offshore racing class, various single handed and crewed races including non stop round the world, trimarans from over 70 to 105 foot. First events will IIRC start in 2017, first RTW in 2018.) On a smaller scale the new Rave V trimaran is extremely interesting. Very different foil and sail configuration than the current thinking. Their goal is to make everything it easier. Start to foil in 7kts wind, ~35kts top speed, trailerable. Easy to use, one rudder, two sheets, low loads. (Thus easily modified for handicapped sailing.) Prototype will be on the water this month. Delivery of the first boats to customers at the end of the year. The new IMOCA 60 monohulls have much bigger and very different foils, but so far no foiling as seen on multihulls and moths. Not designed to fully fly either. OTOH single handed offshore RTW races are maybe not the be place to develop this. That said there are still a few new boats to come out of the shed for next years Vendeé Globe and all the teams are very mum about their foils. On a smaller scale and on lakes the Q23 shows what is possible in keel boats. Basically a 23 foot scow with a 60kg keel bulb and two large L foils. Foiling above the water. The prototype works very well indeed, a production version is getting prepared.
Thanks for that posting. I was not up to date, as I was not familiar withe the Rave. Here are 2 links I looked at: http://www.windrider.com/rave-v.html (with images) http://smalltrimarans.com/blog/windrider-begins-production-of-rave-v-trimaran/
A talk about the technical aspects of the Rave V at The Foiling Week Definitely not your usual foiling trimaran. As so often the proof is in the production models. If it works it will be very interesting which aspects get transfered to other boats, and how fast. Q23 video They got lot of of interest in the boat. Again, i find the comparison to the current generation IMOCA 60 interesting. With a bit of squinting there is quite a bit of similarity. I have no idea if any of the teams are reworking their foil concept after seeing the Q23 fly.
Check out the latest foiling sail boat to enter the Cup challenge from Land Rover Bar, the T2, which hits speeds of 32 to 39 knots. Hold on to your hats!!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=QYnpwnl25Sk
And some drawings, sketches in an article in Yachting World http://www.yachtingworld.com/yachts-and-gear/quant-23-on-board-the-first-foiling-keelboat-67953
Boats on TV's 'World on Water' Multi 70 at 45knts, The Foiling Week One Design more lots of exciting foiling
The current generation of IMOCA boats are really pushing the envelope further than ever before with regards the their foils... we're now seeing evolved foils moving from the early narrow margin, knife edge balancing act into something that a solo skipper can consistently ride on a round the world race: