O'pen Bic's Are Now Foiling!!
Sure, the foiling Optimist was funny, but nobody ever thought the dinky little kids trainers would ever go foiling for real. The O'pen BIC however, is no dinky kids trainer, it's now a fully foiling high performance machine, set to revolutionize kids sailing.
For a 6 to 12 year old, there's nothing cooler than a hydrofoiling Moth. Every kid wants one, every parent is skilled in the art of saying 'no'. Not only is a Moth expensive compared to traditional options, they're dangerously fast and offer a learning curve about as steep as the Northern Sydney coastline. Bolting a set of foils to an O'pen BIC is a far cheaper alternative, offers a shallower learning curve and slower speeds, yet still delivers the foiling awesomeness of a Moth, and the Americas Cup, and the Catamarans, and who knows what else is foiling at the moment.
The company behind making it happen is Aussie company 'Glide Free', and is expected to cost under $5000. That's about the same as the boats themselves, but still significantly cheaper than anything else that flies.
Production is expected to be in full swing by July this year, ready for the 2017/2018 sailing season in Summer, so keep your eyes peeled for kids on flying dinghys at a beach near you, because it's going to become the norm!