"It looks more like an ice boat on steroids, or three windsurfers tied together, which brings up another question; are foils allowed in this speed attempt?"
Hi Timbo,
Actually if you look at it, it looks a lot like a refined scaled-up windsurfer - it has all the same design characteristics : A flat-bottomed planing hull, the rig is displaced to weather of the craft similar to a windsurfer when sailing, and the crew weight is further to weather to counterbalance the forces of the rig on the planing hull.
On the subject of foiling, foils have always been allowed, I `ve read somewhere that they don`t work for the speeds in question due to cavitation, or the suction of air down the foils at these speeds. There was a Tornado on foils that attempted the record many years ago, but I don`t think it went much faster than a standard Tornado.
What I find interesting is that Macquarie Innvation is the only craft of it`s kind to be successful (or more precisely the Yellow Pages Team, now MI), I`ve seen many web-site claims such as sailrocket etc which claim that they have designed and built a craft capable of breaking records, it all works out on the computer model etc, but then you never hear from them again. There`s a new one out now, claiming it will do 100knots, well we will see if they disappear like the rest or prove their claims.
What really impresses me is the kitesurfing guys - I`ve stood on the shore and watched Olaf Marting sail at 38knots on very choppy water, it takes large nads to do that being hauled by a kite that is almost 30metres away from you.