Back in February.
Greetings all,
Well we are working hard over here in the UK to make a funded return to Walvis Bay at the very start of Feb.
Mostly the support is coming from existing sponsors. That last 3 month session pretty much drained all the available resource that we ourselves had to offer...
BUT DAMN...IT WAS WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!
So the plan is to come back and take up where we left off. We will start by trying to replicate that last fast run. If we are happy that we can make SAILROCKET sail 'in mode' every time then we will begin tweaking the boat for speed. We will start by bringing the beam aft to reduce the amount of lee-helm experienced as the boat speeds up and the apparent wind moves forward. If everything continues to go well we will move on to raising the large rudder. This should make a significant difference to speed.
After this there will be all the detail work like removing the extra rigging (easy) and fairing in the wing strut (supposedly good for 1.5 knots). Hopefully after this we will be focusing more on the conditions and the actual sailing side of things.
That's the rough plan anyway.
I went back down to Australia over christmas and during my visit I popped down to see the Macquarrie Innovation crew. They were on standby for a run. The course looks great... although a bit smaller than I remembered it. I looked at the weather and the sketchy window they were waiting for, I considered their remote location and the size of the team they needed (12-14 people) to operate... and I came away feeling good. Good about the way we have approached the whole logistics of speed sailing.
The volunteers on site were chirpy enough but in the end I just felt like I was intruding so I didn't hang around. It struck me as strange. Maybe they don't rate our project. I don't know... but if I was them, I would have wanted to sit down and discuss the various paths we have taken. The Sailrocket project has always been a completely open book... to anyone. Oh well, I suppose that these guys have been around for awhile and will buy themselves some time by watching us make the same mistakes they made throughout their own learning process. But then we are beginning to emerge out the other side of our own process and now would be an interesting time to share experience.
Whatever, the weather window didn't happen (surprise, surprise, been there, done that), they packed up... and that was that. Their day may still come and I do admire their persistence.
So in the remaining 10 or so days in the UK I will gather a heap of spares to restock the larder(container) and do all the nitty gritty associated with what is to come.
Oh yeah, this is cool. I managed to track down the address of Bernard Smith via the internet. Bernard Smith first wrote up the concept of force allignment which SAILROCKET is based upon back in the early 60's. He published it all in a fantastic book called 'THE 40 KNOT SAILBOAT'. I came across this book working in a chandlery back in Queensland, Australia and it ended up changing my life. When I first saw SAILROCKET as a 1:5th scale model I knew immediately the theory it was based upon.
Well with our last run, we actually became... the 40 knot sailboat!!! The first one ever based upon that concept. I wanted to contact Bernard and let him know. Trouble is that he would be over 97 by now. I chased up a number of contacts who told me he was still alive but doesn't do e-mail. They passed on his phone number and last night I called it... and spoke to Bernard Smith himself for about five minutes!!! He would like us to send him a letter with some diagrams of what we are doing which of course we will do. But if Sailrocket does what we think it can... then I think we will go one better and fly the team over to Florida to pay homage to the man himself. 97 and sharp as a tack... what a guy!
Righto... back to the paperwork.
Cheers, Paul.
Well we are working hard over here in the UK to make a funded return to Walvis Bay at the very start of Feb.
Mostly the support is coming from existing sponsors. That last 3 month session pretty much drained all the available resource that we ourselves had to offer...
BUT DAMN...IT WAS WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!
So the plan is to come back and take up where we left off. We will start by trying to replicate that last fast run. If we are happy that we can make SAILROCKET sail 'in mode' every time then we will begin tweaking the boat for speed. We will start by bringing the beam aft to reduce the amount of lee-helm experienced as the boat speeds up and the apparent wind moves forward. If everything continues to go well we will move on to raising the large rudder. This should make a significant difference to speed.
After this there will be all the detail work like removing the extra rigging (easy) and fairing in the wing strut (supposedly good for 1.5 knots). Hopefully after this we will be focusing more on the conditions and the actual sailing side of things.
That's the rough plan anyway.
I went back down to Australia over christmas and during my visit I popped down to see the Macquarrie Innovation crew. They were on standby for a run. The course looks great... although a bit smaller than I remembered it. I looked at the weather and the sketchy window they were waiting for, I considered their remote location and the size of the team they needed (12-14 people) to operate... and I came away feeling good. Good about the way we have approached the whole logistics of speed sailing.
The volunteers on site were chirpy enough but in the end I just felt like I was intruding so I didn't hang around. It struck me as strange. Maybe they don't rate our project. I don't know... but if I was them, I would have wanted to sit down and discuss the various paths we have taken. The Sailrocket project has always been a completely open book... to anyone. Oh well, I suppose that these guys have been around for awhile and will buy themselves some time by watching us make the same mistakes they made throughout their own learning process. But then we are beginning to emerge out the other side of our own process and now would be an interesting time to share experience.
Whatever, the weather window didn't happen (surprise, surprise, been there, done that), they packed up... and that was that. Their day may still come and I do admire their persistence.
So in the remaining 10 or so days in the UK I will gather a heap of spares to restock the larder(container) and do all the nitty gritty associated with what is to come.
Oh yeah, this is cool. I managed to track down the address of Bernard Smith via the internet. Bernard Smith first wrote up the concept of force allignment which SAILROCKET is based upon back in the early 60's. He published it all in a fantastic book called 'THE 40 KNOT SAILBOAT'. I came across this book working in a chandlery back in Queensland, Australia and it ended up changing my life. When I first saw SAILROCKET as a 1:5th scale model I knew immediately the theory it was based upon.
Well with our last run, we actually became... the 40 knot sailboat!!! The first one ever based upon that concept. I wanted to contact Bernard and let him know. Trouble is that he would be over 97 by now. I chased up a number of contacts who told me he was still alive but doesn't do e-mail. They passed on his phone number and last night I called it... and spoke to Bernard Smith himself for about five minutes!!! He would like us to send him a letter with some diagrams of what we are doing which of course we will do. But if Sailrocket does what we think it can... then I think we will go one better and fly the team over to Florida to pay homage to the man himself. 97 and sharp as a tack... what a guy!
Righto... back to the paperwork.
Cheers, Paul.
posted by Paul at 2:17 pm
5 Comments:
Hey guys,
It's unofficial, but nevertheless very impressive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2gSQXy4-Mw
O, and say hello to Bernard for me as well, and tell him his idea's are here to stay !
I'd like to give hime an homage as well, if you manage to get his email or can give me his adress, I'd be very grateful.
Cheers,
Johan
What a nice story. What a great project and team !
Is Bermard rushing to do the book correctum 'the 50 knots boat'?
I guess!
Hi all, I think Bernard was doing a follow up book called 'The Ultimate Sailboat'! I guess that leaves the final speed pretty open. He doesn't do e-mail so correspondance is by the old fashion way I'm afraid.
As far as the recent developments of the kiteboarders go... of course I have been watching it all very closely.
The speeds are remarkable but... I don't see why they don't simply play under the same set of rules as everyone else as it will make their speeds more relevant. The course is between two points 500m apart and that is that. It doesn't diminish their achievements at all. I don't see how the rule can be any other way. I don't believe that the standard 'off the shelf' GPS systems are accurate enough to ratify anything else and believe me... Kite/wind surfers don't want to lug around the hardware or pay for the Trimble system which is ratified( we know... we used it). So the course Tilman did was curved and according to people who have checked his course out... he's still under 50 knots... but only just. For me, this is not the issue. The issue is that there are rules in place which are there to protect the sport/endeavour. They are there to make sure that we, to borrow a phrase, are comparing 'apples with apples'.
I prefer the 500m projected course as I believe it demonstrates a controlled and sustainable average as against a big bear away from a strong wind.
I think that the rules surrounding the Outright record relating to the 500m course need to be tightened up somewhat. there needs to be a limit on how shallow you can go. I believe that any time that your hydrodynamics is being directly affected by the proximity of the bottom that you are introducing a third element which ruins the purity of the realtionship of wind and water. It is this relationship that speed-sailing is all about.
There is only room for one outright record but it simply has to be ratified. This is not only to prevent false claims but also to correctly determine between two close runs.
If I went as quick as Tilman, I would shout it out also... but I wouldn't claim any record until it was proven.
The kiteboarders look set to do to the windsurfers what they did to everyone else in the 80's. Good for them. Sailrocket is a Mk1 prototype. If we are beaten to 50 or even beyond this Mk1's capabilities then we will simply have to keep pushing the concept further. One of the reasons why I love this concept is because it has 'legs'. The Mk1 will aim to prove the concept works and is truly viable in the real world... the Mk2 will be looking a little further down the track and that will involve ventilated foils, stronger winds and therefore bumpier seas. We aren't there yet, but that's where it's headed.
It's all good stuff. I'm glad to see the issues being debated as I believe it is all healthy and generally constructive.
Happy days!
Cheers, Paul.
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