Horue’s Biplane Hydrofoil Concept

Horue has recently surprised the foiling world with a innovation: the foil biplane!

2 front wings attached together, making a surprising and exciting concept.

Detractors have of course already raised their voice, while others agree that this product is an interesting innovation that deserves to be tested.

Windfoil Zone is of course among the latter. Great innovations only come from people/brands who try and believe, make errors and adjust. The least we can say is that Horue is and has always been at the forefront of the foiling movement, and we need such brands to move the needle.

We have not tested the Horue biplane yet, so to better understand the concept, we have asked Philippe Caneri of Horue some questions about the Horue Biplane concept:

Windfoil Zone: Hi Philippe, you recently announced the launch of the Horue biplane. Can you tell us more about it?

Philippe Caneri: We started the development of the Biplane concept in May 2018. The main goal was to create a bigger wing area with smaller wings, enabling our existing customers to save money instead of buying a new XXL wing for example. (A new large wing will be released soon, however! ).

With this small affordable part (the red adapter between the wings), you can combine the 2 front wings of your Horue Vini quiver (XLW and LW) and offer 3 possible surfaces.

WZ: What are the main advantages of this concept?

PC: The main advantage is to minimize the number of wings you have in your quiver.

It provides higher lift than monoplane wing, so earlier planing, and it gives better longitudinal stability. It’s a very good choice for beginners and for people who like to use small sails.

WZ: Do you see any drawback?

PC: Of course, the top speed is lower than a monoplane, even for a 1770cm² wing (the area of the 2 wings put together).

WZ: Any possible problems of interferences between the wings?

PC: As water is incompressible, there are minors interaction between the wings. We worked hard to minimize these interactions by making several prototypes and use computer simulations. With this product, we have now created an optimal compromise between lift and drag.

WZ: Who is this biplane for?

PC: This biplane is made for customers who already own both the Horue XLW and LW wings, and who need extra-lift in marginal conditions with small sails, without spending more money on a new wing. This is not intended to replace a big wing or to beat your speed record 🙂

WZ: What is the price of the extension and when will it be available?

PC: The biplane adapter costs 50€ (excluding VAT) and is available right now!

WZ: Thanks for answering our questions Philippe.