Sliding riggers and hydrofoil project?

[jackarabit]

What happened to 2008 Yale hydrofoil scull project? Were these too expensive to produce? Too demanding of consistent stroke power? Or international governing bodies preferred incremental improvement to traditional fixedrigger/displacement hull designs? Other?

[jamesg]

Seems the IOC likes to keep things simple, level and available to all. There's plenty of novelties in terms of materials (carbon not wood etc) and new sports, but other aspects are beyond the pale. Boats like Finn and FD change very slowly, they prefer to bring in new one-designs, Laser, 49er and the like, and phase out older boats completely. Lots of what we see on snow in Korea didn't even exist 50 years ago.

C2 doesn't allow racing on slides or Dynos either.

Foils are problematic anyway. Hard to get them to fly into a headwind. Sculling over weeds and mooring lines is not recommended. Extra rack space would be needed, unlikely to make boat clubs happy. Boat structure design is not for suspension on two points with the crew aboard, but over the entire length. The changing height would cause rigging problems.

[jackarabit]

“Simple, level, and available.” Lovely. Had not considered submerged objects, weed, windage, awkwardness of changing rigger height, hull as span beam, racking and trailering demands, hidebound and hide-decked conservatism of Old Ivy. Are there one design classes in shells as in racing sailboats?

[jamesg]

one design

Not in rowing, every boatbuilder has his own molds, but I'd guess the proportions can't change much.
We can choose our ideal shell here: http://www.filippiboats.com/en/Prodotto ... single-1x/

No doubt the FISA rule book (> 400 pages) says something about all this: Rules 1 and 40.

[Cyclist2]

I recall back when I was rowing that hull treatments such as riblets (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 1816300484) were banned. I'm sure there are lots of hydrodynamics engineers out there that have come up with all sorts of drag reducing measures. (Remember the swimming suit issue at the Olympics where the world records were falling like crazy. Until they banned them). I haven't read the rules, but I'm sure they specify some "conformity" while still allowing innovation. Think the hatchet blade oars for example.

[jackarabit]

Spent a few days riding out of Donoratico with Andy Hampsten bike tour in y2k. Went to the beach, walked up to Castagneto Carducci evenings and then went on the road hotel and B&B touring for a few more days, Saw a bit of 8th stage of the Giro on a hilltop in the Apennines (Axel Merckx winner) but missed Filippi Boats. Is the production shop in Donoratico? I won't be cracking the FISA bible any time soon or ever.

[jamesg]

Nice place for cycling, up and down all those hills, but not too high: a Tuscan village and wines at the top with perfect Italian from the chef and waiters. Filippi's still in Donoratico but no doubt expanded given all the crews that want his boats.

FISA rule 1 excludes hydrofoils and moving riggers. Ergs are included in rowing so also come under FISA rules, which must be why slides are not allowed under ergs:

Rowing is the propulsion of a displacement boat, with or without coxswain,
by the muscular force of one or more rowers, using oars as simple levers of
the second order and sitting with their backs to the direction of movement
of the boat.
Rowing on a machine or in a tank which simulates the action of
rowing in a boat is also considered as rowing.
In a rowing boat, all load bearing parts including the axes of moving parts,
must be firmly fixed to the body of the boat, but the rower’s seat may move
along the axis of the boat.

[lwtguy]

Correct that FISA ruled them out. I believe it was done a while ago, back in the 70s. The Soviets were working on a sliding system in the boat that was tested at international races by their single sculler but it was eventually banned. There is a video of the race where it was used though. Don't remember which year/ race it was.

I also think it looks dumb, and you know how much rowers love style.