Good conditions but wait ing for my wing'man' to mend.
Hi all,
The wind has returned as we knew it would but the tides are a little low in the afternoon. Helena has returned but is feeling a bit battered and bruised. She certainly isn't ready to do battle with Sailrocket.
It sounds like a warzone down here as they are turning big rocks into little rocks out at the gravel pit and the container reverbrates with the explosions (which are over 15km away!!!)
I am doing some nice work with the Mk II skeg and we now have a trailing edge flap that is a work of art any Moth owner would be proud to show-off. This should mean that we can do away with the high speed rudder completely. Happy days.
Meanwhile down in Luderitz the kites are continuing with their quest to be the quickest. They have now bettered anything done by Yellow Pages or Mac. Innovations with a 46.8 knot run (yet to be ratified). These guys are exiting the less than perfect course at 52-3 knots and feeling pretty confident that there is plenty more to come. they are already talking of being the first to 100kmh let alone 50 knots!
There is alot to be said about the methods they are using for the future of speed sailing. I'm not just talking about the kite but more the high speed advantages of high-pressure lifting surfaces. Ones that don't rely on water flowing over both surfaces but rather just smacking into the high pressure or under-side. This is how ventilating, surface piercing or cavitating foils/propellors get their drive at high speed.
the amazing thing for me was to see how close the kites were to the boards at Walvis Speed Week where the wind angles were so tight. With the amount of spray coming off the side of the boards they were still demonstrating an efficiency close to that of a sailboard. Part of the reason would be that they have more power due to the lower center of effort of the kite i.e. look at where the kite lines are pointing in relation to the resistance (the board) and measure that lever arm against that of a sail on a windsurfer and its fin. This would indicate that in order to live with the inefficiency you need a fair percentage more power.
Nothing new there.
Once again, this is part of the reasoning behind SAILROCKET. We have no lever arm as our forces are totally alligned at speed. This should mean that we can eventually make the jump to fully ventilated foils when we need to go faster than conventional foils will allow.
We will cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now we still need to get to 40.
The wind is already blowing now. I think it's going to howl today.
I'll stay tucked in the container and finish this lovely skeg whilst my wing'man' is on the mend. Tomorrow we will rig up and try and get on the water early.
Malcolm should be coming down next Monday/Tuesday and we all look forward to this.
Cheers, Paul.
The wind has returned as we knew it would but the tides are a little low in the afternoon. Helena has returned but is feeling a bit battered and bruised. She certainly isn't ready to do battle with Sailrocket.
It sounds like a warzone down here as they are turning big rocks into little rocks out at the gravel pit and the container reverbrates with the explosions (which are over 15km away!!!)
I am doing some nice work with the Mk II skeg and we now have a trailing edge flap that is a work of art any Moth owner would be proud to show-off. This should mean that we can do away with the high speed rudder completely. Happy days.
Meanwhile down in Luderitz the kites are continuing with their quest to be the quickest. They have now bettered anything done by Yellow Pages or Mac. Innovations with a 46.8 knot run (yet to be ratified). These guys are exiting the less than perfect course at 52-3 knots and feeling pretty confident that there is plenty more to come. they are already talking of being the first to 100kmh let alone 50 knots!
There is alot to be said about the methods they are using for the future of speed sailing. I'm not just talking about the kite but more the high speed advantages of high-pressure lifting surfaces. Ones that don't rely on water flowing over both surfaces but rather just smacking into the high pressure or under-side. This is how ventilating, surface piercing or cavitating foils/propellors get their drive at high speed.
the amazing thing for me was to see how close the kites were to the boards at Walvis Speed Week where the wind angles were so tight. With the amount of spray coming off the side of the boards they were still demonstrating an efficiency close to that of a sailboard. Part of the reason would be that they have more power due to the lower center of effort of the kite i.e. look at where the kite lines are pointing in relation to the resistance (the board) and measure that lever arm against that of a sail on a windsurfer and its fin. This would indicate that in order to live with the inefficiency you need a fair percentage more power.
Nothing new there.
Once again, this is part of the reasoning behind SAILROCKET. We have no lever arm as our forces are totally alligned at speed. This should mean that we can eventually make the jump to fully ventilated foils when we need to go faster than conventional foils will allow.
We will cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now we still need to get to 40.
The wind is already blowing now. I think it's going to howl today.
I'll stay tucked in the container and finish this lovely skeg whilst my wing'man' is on the mend. Tomorrow we will rig up and try and get on the water early.
Malcolm should be coming down next Monday/Tuesday and we all look forward to this.
Cheers, Paul.
Paul Larsen
Mobile: + 44 (0) 794 684 1929
E-mail: paularsen1@aol.com
www.sailrocket.com
Mobile: + 44 (0) 794 684 1929
E-mail: paularsen1@aol.com
www.sailrocket.com
posted by Paul at 10:13 am
3 Comments:
Yes, kites will be first, their learning curve is by far not flattened still.
But your concept is and will remain always faster, you have a formula one car, but with the engine on top of the left rear wheel and the driver on the rear right and no spoilers. To compensate you have a block of concrete put in front. salve all this and you will be laughing at the kites.
Good luck again,
Cheers,
Johan
O, and the block of concrete can fall of any moment !
Looking forward to seeing you get the boat sorted so that you can start dragging the claw through the water and see 50 knots as a distant memory.
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