Hi Mike,

I tried the north side of Dunedin Causeway once. It was blowing 20 to 25 MPH out of the north so there was a lot of wave action. It was just after a cold front and it was not a good day to be out on the Tri-foiler. The surface sensors had difficulty controlling the boat's height off the surface and they were throwing spray everywhere. It is always a wet ride and in a cold wind, it can be uncomfortable. With a lot of wind it is sometime hard to get the boat moving upwind. It is not made for pointing. The problem is there is not a lot of bouyancy in the amas and certainly not enough lateral resistance in the foils at slow speeds. As you sheet in to sail up wind, the leeward ama goes under the surface of the water and creates a tremendous leehelm which can't be overcome with the rudder. You have to ease up on the main sheet and let the ama re-surface and let the boat pick-up a little speed. As the speed increases the hydrofoils start to generate lift which allows you to powerup the sails a little more. Once you have some speed it is okay as long as the leeward hull doesn't go under in a puff or the foils don't snage something.

It is a real dangerous boat if you don't know what you are doing. The speedometer in the boat reads up to 35 mph and I have had it pegged before. It is a little scary sailing at that speed because if you hit something or something breaks at that speed, you can get seriously hurt or even killed! I snagged a crab trap with the rudder while foilborne once and almost got thrown out of the boat in the sudden stop.

JenniferL