Hi all:

I was the Test Pilot for the Tri Foiler for a while when they were being built in Long Beach CA. Before the Hobie Cat Company became interested in them. It was my job to go out and break it. I was pretty successful for a while. Then as Greg Ketterman was able to get all the parts that were faulty redesigned I had a harder and harder time breaking things. He is very careful about design and durability.

It is an amazing craft. It is like taking off in an airplane when it changes from displacement to foiling mode. I had a speedo that read 40MPH and it was pegged most of the time. I think that he changed that to 50 later on.

There was no such thing as coming down off foils either for gybing or tacking if the wind was enough. It is actually easier on the boat as you are going through a gybe at faster than windspeed the whole way.

Later,
Dan