Marine

Wave Chaser crafts a new genre between catamaran and windsurfer

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The Wave Chaser is designed to blend the best of catamaran and windsurfing design
Wave Chaser
The Wave Chaser's twin catamaran hulls are connected by a raised platform
Wave Chaser
The Wave Chaser's platform can be removed and reattached for transport
Wave Chaser
At the moment, the Wave Chaser catamaran is being prototyped
Wave Chaser
A look at the steering system on the twin-hull Wave Chaser catamaran
Wave Chaser
The Wave Chaser is quite heavy when it's all put together, weighing almost 70 kg
Wave Chaser
When disconnected, the Wave Chaser's hulls can be used as stand-up paddleboards
Wave Chaser
The team at Wave Chaser has designed the hulls to work as a stand-up paddleboard when not connected by a platform
Wave Chaser
Transporting the Wave Chaser setup involves a trailer at the moment
Wave Chaser
A look at the Wave Chaser hull design
Wave Chaser
The Wave Chaser prototype on the beach and ready to launch
Wave Chaser
The Wave Chaser is designed to blend the best of catamaran and windsurfing design
Wave Chaser
View gallery - 11 images

Whether you're a high-speed thrill seeker or absolute beginner, windsurfing is a solo sport, but an Australian team is working on a fresh new design which changes that. The Wave Chaser is a twin-rig planing hull catamaran, designed to show how catamaran tech could combine with windsurfing to create a new, exciting craft.

According to the team at Wave Chaser, the hulls on its windsurfer catamaran strike a neat balance between hydrodynamic lift and maneuverability. They make use of a double-concave shape at the rear, which flows through a relatively flat midsection into a slight "vee" at the nose.

Along with its blend of lift and maneuverability, the design of the hulls was chosen because of its ability to keep a 180 kg (397 lb) two-person crew balanced and buoyant in variable ocean conditions. The hulls are attached to a bespoke pair of sails, shaped with a minimal rake and short base to make sure they efficiently translate wind into motion.

"We have created a totally unique watercraft," says Wave Chaser designer, Nigel McBride. "The Wave Chaser is a twin rig,planing hull catamaran developed from windsurfer design principles. Thiswindsurfer catamaran as we call it, is capable of fast planing on flat water,stable yet highly maneuverable, and tough enough to handle extreme windloading and wave slam."

The Wave Chaser is quite heavy when it's all put together, weighing almost 70 kg
Wave Chaser

Although the Wave Chaser works as a twin-hull catamaran, the rig is actually made up of two separate hulls, connected up using a raised central platform. When they're attached, the two hulls create the catamaran you see here, but when separated they can be used as stand-up paddle boards or individual sailboards.

Of course, there are some downsides to running with two hulls and a big central platform. Where a conventional sailboard weighs between 6 and 10 kg (13 to 22 lb), and most stand-up paddle boards are around 14 kg (30 lb), the catamaran hulls on the Wave Chaser tip the scales at a portly 20 kg (44 lb) each. With sails and the central platform attached, the prototype twin-hull catamaran weighs a whopping 67.6 kg (149 lb).

According to Nigel McBride, the team at Wave Chaser is aiming to get the production model under 50 kg (110 lb) by making the hulls out of carbon fiber, and adopting a hollow design. The hulls can be transported using roof racks, and the rest of the design disassembles to be carried in the back of a pickup or van. Putting the whole thing together takes two people around 20 minutes.

At the moment, the Wave Chaser is at the prototyping stage, but creator Nigel McBride is already working on a production model. No information about pricing or availability has been released, as you'd imagine of a product in its early development phase.

You can see the catamaran in action below.

Source: Wave Chaser

View gallery - 11 images
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4 comments
MQ
Reminiscent of the hobie trifoiler from back in the day (2010) with the "sailboard derived" side by side rig.
highlandboy
Fine with a following wind, but of little value with a cross wind. The windward sail would block a large percentage of wind to the leaward sail.
LorenKinzel
Dang! they built my design. Not to take away, as they did a fine job & if you snooze you lose. I snoozed a long time. Perhaps a bit more rake up front for flying in a chop. Sheeting system is way better than I would have done. The wind shadowing effect is actually quite small in angle (highlandboy). With upwind (all the fun) the upwind sail acts as a jib on the downwind one. Were it not so mechanically difficult, a mast tilt system would help to get some of the lift enjoyed by sailboards. This shows promise of lots of fun for a smaller size. Especially with those weight figures! The simplicity of design can get it into a lot more hands than the trifoiler so it might actually catch on. Congratulations guys & or gals!
ikarus342000
Nothing new here. I use the parallel rig since 1983. My DUO 425 is a 4,25m long catamaran with a weight of 44kg. Best speed till now 33kn! Okay, nothing anymore for the new livestyle generation. It is a DIY project with over 600 plans sold world wide. By the way, with this flat bows the lee bow will dive and pitchpole the craft. Righting will be difficult in this configurtion. On a fast parallel rig catamaran the lee sail is not planked out, because the boat will sail always on the wind.