Locus of a Boat Designer 2 Paperback – November 1, 2010

Kotaro takes you in with his emotions working through postwar Japan. His genius is very evident, and his love for his work shines through. I was led to this book by Ray Vellinga's book "Hydrofoils" which is also found in Amazon

The book is very pleased! I bought because of an article about minilodku hydrofoils. I have read and all the rest with interest. I want to contact the author via e-mail. Have questions about minilodke hydrofoils.

Mr Horuichi has a most inventive mind and was involved with a lot more than his official projects with Yamaha. The book is not light reading but gives a valuable insight into the world of technological design. Many of the projects in which he was involved, years ago, like hydrofoil sailing craft, are now coming to fruition.

This is more of a story which although is filled with lots of interesting stuff it does not actually tell you much about building hydrofoils

few value information, generic book

Informative. My husband loves it.

Review of "Locus of a boat designer 2", by Kotaro Horiuchi,What is the "American Dream"? To some it is having a good job, buying a house, starting a family and voting. Others believe the American Dream follow the examples of Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. Their compulsion to invent things was as strong as their need for money, shelter, family and freedom. However this form of the American Dream may be more appropriately called the International Dream. The inventive spirit is everywhere, not just in America.There is no finer example of an innovator and inventor than Kotaro Horiuchi, chief of the Yamaha Research and Development Center during the 1980s, head of Horuichi Laboratory and former director of Yamaha Motor Co. Mr. Horiuchi, like his company, is Japanese, but the R & D centers are in Los Angeles and Minnesota. Little wonder that many of the designs he created have strong appeal to Americans. Yamaha's market successes are well known: motorcycles, personal watercraft, etc. But the real excitement in this book is about the vehicles he created for special purposes and, for one reason or another, where never mass-marketed and therefore not widely known.The versatile Mr. Horiuchi, in a period spanning over 50 years, designed conventional motorboats, sailboats, planes, helicopters, motorcycles, cars, SCUBA propulsion unit and even a river-powered generator. But his greatest efforts were focused on hydrofoil boats, and this book reveals their secrets. His best known hydrofoil is the OU32 that was feature on the Discovery Channel in 1999. This water-jet powered boat carries two persons in tandem and flies at 40mph. The pilot and passenger are belted in and protected by a locking clear transparent canopy. The submerged foils allow the craft to make balanced turns while banking 45 degrees. The result is a 1.4G thrill ride. There are detailed drawings, descriptions, specifications and measurements to help the reader understand how this boat works.During the 1990s there was a lot of interest in Japan about setting records with human powered hydrofoils. There were many boats but two stand out: the Cogito and the Super Phoenix. The fastest was the two rider Super Phoenix. It was designed and built by Yamaha engineer, Fumitaka Yokoyama, in Yamaha's facility under the direction of Mr. Horiuchi. In 1998 it flew at 19.51 knots. That is faster than the 18.5 knots of the MIT speed record holder, Decavitator, a one man hydrofoil. Officially, Super Phoenix was awarded the two man record by the International Human Powered Vehicle Association for the fastest flying start run through a 100 meter course at 18.67 Knots. This speed fell slightly short of their 20 knot goal. Not to worry, Mr. Horiuchi generously details the final 5 modifications that were made on the Super Phoenix to permit it to fly faster, but even after these modifications its old record could not be beaten. Still optimistic, Mr. Horiuchi calculates that by increasing the rider power by 15% and decreasing the drag by 35% an otherwise similar boat would smash all records by reaching 24 knots. Sounds easy enough.There are so many valuable projects in this book that one gets the feeling that Mr. Horiuchi, retired as of 1996, would like more than anything to see the abandoned ideas come back to life in the form of viable, profit making products. Many of his best ideas apparently were shelved because of unrelated circumstances, like the Japanese recession or the surge in product liability problems in the 1990s. Of course the biggest market for these ideas is here in the USA and surely it's no coincidence that this third edition is in English and available to Americans.The book is important because of the large number of significant projects and the detail in which they are reported. There are very few other good books about hydrofoils and hydrofoil design principles. This one should be in the library of every serious hydrofoil enthusiast and designer. The book is especially valuable to anyone thinking of building a hydrofoil or anyone dreaming of breaking records.Those not interested in hydrofoils will find plenty of other designs of interest. About 40% of the book is devoted to hydrofoils, 20% for power boats, 10% for rowing shells, 10% two wheel powered vehicles, and 10% for airplanes and helicopters. The book is filled with great designer and engineering ideas with numbers, dimensions and details.Locus is a large book, 308 pages of 8" X 11.5" print. It is filled with over 360 fine line drawings and photos. The line drawings in particular are works of art.The hard cover edition was priced at $99.00. However, the paperback edition is now available at a greatly reduced price at Amazon.com and elsewhere.P.S. to see Horiuchi-san's OU-32 and other relevant hydrofoil videos go to Youtube.com and search for rvell7829 or enter my name, Ray Vellinga.Ray Vellinga is the Author of "Hydrofoils: Design, Build, Fly," also available at Amazon.com.

Great book, though i totally skipped the non-hydrofoil material. Still a lot in here, although the translation sometimes is slightly unclear.

Libro bellissimo (dal mio punto di vista di ingegnere).Sarebbe bello se tutti i progettisti potessero avere un lavoro così appassionante e gratificante !Dopo tanti anni è attualissimo ! Spiega come porsi di fronte a progetti impegnativi e un poco fuori dagli schemi classici.Ne acquisterò qualche altra copia da regalare a colleghi selezionati.Antonio Ferravioli

Love this book only just got it. First read is interesting and exciting.This guy is an inspirational and prolific inventor who not only had great ideas and vision, but got out there and built and tested stuff too.Loads of pictures, stories and sketches. Very informative. I was inspired by seeing a YouTube video of a fast leaning personal hydrofoil craft he had built entitled the amazing boats of Kotaro Horiuchi.

Very interesting book with lots of great ideas. Quality of print and paper is low if that matters to you.

If you have any interest in Research and development, this is a great story to read. Kotaro gets involved in many different projects and explains the problems and successes along the way in simple terms, you feel for the man when having spent months designing, building and testing the projects, they are often just dropped due to the economy or red tape.

Kotaro Horuichi writes lucidly about his impressive portfolio of innovative designs. It seems that nothing escaped his ability to think outside the box, whether it was designing a faster rowing shell or a light aircraft. He is never shy of assigning the credit to his collaborators but one is sure that he must have been his amazing mind that came up with so many ideas.The only person I have come across with anywhere near the same inventiveness was Buckminster Fuller.Perhaps equally remarkable is that it is a great read, perhaps due to the translator as much as Kotaro himself.