I was at a bike fest today in San Luis Obispo and noticed a couple of nifty recumbent “human powered vehicles” used to set speed records. One was called “The Tub” and had the top part of the fairing removed. The guts of the unit were in the bottom half of the shell which resembled a kayak. I thought of your question recently and asked if they knew of any human powered boats. In addition to the fine links provided by Dale Solomonson, try this one… http://www.humanpoweredboats.com/
Human powered hydroplanes?! John, Nice link. I like the wave hull that the woman is “recumbent” on. It’s plain, such a vehicle is pretty unstable at human-powered speeds… for use only in a swimsuit. But trimming a wave face it would find its feet. -Noodle
Apparently it’s not that far fetched. It looks to me as if one obstacle is creating a structurally sound drive unit that doesn’t involve too much drag. In the pictures, most of the boats have noticeable turbulence where the drive units enter the water. A link provides a source or two for pre-manufactured drive units with different types of props. Even the props have a certain amount of surface area to overcome as far as drag is concerned. One style looks like a single twisted in-line blade. The boat that seems to be pretty efficient, if you can judge by the wake behind the boat, is not a hydroplane design. It looks more like an outrigger airboat with a big three bladed wind prop behind. Don’t know how it would surf though! http://www.humanpoweredboats.com/
What about the hydrofoils? I think it would be a lot of fun to rig up a hydrofoil to a surfboard. Not a tow in deal like they do with the air chair adapted hydrofoils but either a paddle or peddle type set up. I don’t know if it would be possible but that website sure does get the imagination working…>>> Apparently it’s not that far fetched. It looks to me as if one obstacle is > creating a structurally sound drive unit that doesn’t involve too much > drag. In the pictures, most of the boats have noticeable turbulence where > the drive units enter the water. A link provides a source or two for > pre-manufactured drive units with different types of props. Even the props > have a certain amount of surface area to overcome as far as drag is > concerned. One style looks like a single twisted in-line blade. The boat > that seems to be pretty efficient, if you can judge by the wake behind the > boat, is not a hydroplane design. It looks more like an outrigger airboat > with a big three bladed wind prop behind. Don’t know how it would surf > though!