RISE returns with flying skiff

Team Rowing Innovation and Sports Engineering (RISE) started with a double four on hydrofoils in 2013. Two years later, in August 2015, they succeeded in getting the boat out of the water and onto its hydrofoils. The fun didn’t last, however. After four strokes, the front hydrofoil broke off, and the boat sank back onto the surface.

At the presentation that took place last week Wednesday, March 9, 2016, the team showed their new design for a single scull boat. The most remarkable differences with the previous design are the format (skiff instead of four) and the moveable hydrofoils that provide variable lift.

The aft part of the hydrofoil moves like the flap of a wing. Just like a wing flap, moving it downward generates more lift (and drag) than keeping it horizontal. The flap is connected to a floater by a clever hinging construction of rods.

“The effect is that when the boat goes up, the floater goes down. This movement pushes the rod up so that the wing profile will flatten out,” Jaep Koning, the team’s chief technician explained. Koning studies Aeronautical Engineering and rows at Proteus. Team manager Karsten Koelewijn, who was also present at the interview, studies mechanical engineering and rows at Laga.

The choice to develop a single scull instead of a (coxless double) four is mainly economical. Getting the skiff at the required take-off speed of 14-15 kilometres per hour will be no easy feat with the hydrofoils causing extra drag. No rower has been selected yet, although his or her maximum weight is known: 85 kilograms.

About fourteen students have joined the RISE team this season. Their ambition, said team manager Koelwijn, is to produce a skiff on moveable hydrofoils by July 2016 and to improve the world record (6 minutes 33 seconds) over 2 kilometres with it shortly thereafter.

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