UFO

The MIT Sailing Pavilion has a UFO sailboat that uses wing-like T foils to lift the hull out of the water. This 8 foot 9 inch, 110 pound catamaran style dinghy "flies" above the water is a good introduction to foiling. It is stable at low speeds and is difficult to capsize in displacement mode.

Requirements to Sail

• Must have full membership (Normal Sailing Card)
• Must have sufficient ratings; either
  • Helmsman rating OR
  • Provisional rating and at least two of the three high(er) performance boat ratings
    • 420
    • Firefly
    • Laser
• Must take class to learn to rig/ sail

Rigging the UFO

• Bottom of sail goes on first
• Might need 2 people to raise sail (1 pulls halyard back/down, 1 helps feed in sail)
• Put on cunningham before outhaul
• Don’t forget bottom batten
  • Should be tied to cunningham finetune
• Latches for front foil are loose, make sure to tighten all the way
• Check for water

Derigging Notes

• Raise front foil in the water, then pull boat onto the dock to raise the back foil
  • Careful not to hit rudder/foil against dock, but this makes it x10000 easier
• Remove bottom of sail first, roll as you bring down
  • Since top batten is at a different angle from rest, reroll from the top so that this batten is aligned with the others afterwards
• Tie bottom batten to cunningham finetune
• Halyard gets tied to back of boom and cunningham
  • Raise boom to decrease stress on spreaders
• Check for water

Sailing Basics

• Jibes are much much easier/faster than tacks
• Backwind sail to get moving
  • Stand up, push boom away, point tiller away (controls flip when backwinding)
  • Then sit, sheet in, head down for speed
• Windward heel and weight back/out helps get you foiling
• Heading up/trimming powers up, heading down/easing powers down
• Can’t hike the boat flat once you’re on foils, use angle and trim to control
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F8doHBpkRw&frags=pl%2Cwn

Tuning Basics

Righty flighty, lefty loosey