Last Tuesday afternoon, 4 April, the time had come: the students of the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg and scientists at the Marine Technology Pools SSPA watered the first Opti equipped with foils. The test pilot is 17-year-old Laser sailor Axel Rahm, one of the young hopefuls in the Swedish Sailing Association. With only 10 knots of wind, he gets the converted Opti to take off on its foils. "Just amazing," enthused Axel Rahm after his first flying lesson on an Optimist.
However, the students and scientists put many hundreds of hours of work into the project before it was ready. Among other things, the Opti and the foils were tested in extensive towing tank trials and continuously optimised. And because foiling generates different forces than conventional sailing, the Opti's hull and centreboard had to be modified and reinforced with carbon fibre.
And it does fly: video evidence of the first flying Opti.
Cool: Opti on stilts during trial run for Gothenburg
Michael Good
Editor Test & Technology
