God Save the Wind

At this year’s RYA Volvo Dinghy Show, Weymouth-based Tomahawk Foils will unveil its Tomahawk foil, the surface running, ventilated hydrofoil it has invented and patented for both sailing and powered water craft.

The foil has been fitted to a windsurfer on display in the Palm Court and can also be seen on the Ovington Boats’ concept dinghy on Stand C88.

The foil’s inventor, Jonathan Howes explains the concept: “It’s a totally new type of hydrofoil that solves many of the problems inherent in conventional foil designs.


The ventilated design has features that give a wide operating speed range without moving parts and exceptional tolerance to rough water, making the windsurfer simpler, more versatile and easier to sail”

The concept uses subtle upper-surface shaping to provide progressive changes in lift force with increasing speed in a similar way to an aircraft’s wing flaps but without any moving parts.

This means that the windsurfer lifts on to the foils at a very low speed but automatically corrects for higher speeds, giving smooth performance throughout the speed range.

Ventilated surface running allows the foil to move in and out of waves with minimal impact on foiling performance and gives speed potential without sudden changes in handling due to uncontrolled ventilation or cavitation.

Not only does it fully exploit the concept’s forgiving characteristics, but a windsurfer fitted with the hydrofoil still behaves like a normal windsurfer.

The design has been tested, developed and refined by well-known, Weymouth sailor and dinghy manufacturer, Linton Jenkins.

He says: “The Tomahawk foil makes windsurfing enjoyable, fast, and refreshing. I’ve never had such fun windsurfing!”


SOURCE: Tomahawk Foils