The consequence...top end borderline frustration!!!
The Walvis bay wind machine was back in form today.
We waited for the tide and then headed across the bumpy lagoon to speed-spot. The chop was really kicking up just around the corner from the launch ramp where the tide is rushing into the lagoon directly against the building breeze.
Earlier in the day we tried to ressurect the Tacktick wind wand but to no avail. We have three seperate wind measuring systems and today they were all down for different reasons. Whilst all the emails have been sent and orders placed...today we were short and we paid the price. We drove all over town looking for a replacement of some sort. A few places have weather stations mounted on their roof or balcony but their accuracy is always debateble in relation to what is happening over at speed-spot. The day was really shaping up so we headed across. I have a pretty good feel for the wind over there now and can usually guess within a knot or two of what is going on.
The strength was good when we arrived... probably sitting around 17-18 gusting 19-20... but it was a little west. The windsurfers were struggling to sail back upwind to the top of the course. Old Johan back at the yacht club had dug out an old mechanical wind guage, the type with the floating disc in a clear tube (the name of which escapes me). I brought it along. We stopped at the timing hut and watched the conditions. Due to the slight west component there was a small swell rolling down the course which had come from the 'second lagoon' which curves around upwind of the top of the course. I knew that any run done today would be fast so I wanted the water to be as flat as possible. I knew that the wind would square up to the beach... and probably build. It's not warm over there on speed-spot and the wind chill wears you down. It's relentless.
Sure enough the wind swung around a few degrees and increased by a few knots. The small westerly swell subsided.
It was now classic speed-spot conditions... 20-22 and gusting. The old wind guage is marked in M/S and I was doing the maths in the sand to check if the old 'Just double it for knots' rule is truly accurate(It pretty well is). I stood out in a clear flow of wind away from the timing huts and measured away. the wind gradually creapt up until I was seeing the odd 12 m/s gust and later even a little over. The course looked good.
I really wanted to go. Sailrocket is behaving well and I was confident that we could do something special in these conditions... but... but we would have virtually no wind data. As I stood out there measuring away with Johans old guage I pondered this aspect of the project. Getting accurate wind data off Sailrocket has been an issue from day1. I never expected it to be a problem. The trouble seems to be in combining a wind instrument with a data logger that is not the size of a laptop. Think about it, how many high speed small dinghies can do this from onboard? I'll make it easy for you... none! We are working hard with PI and B+G to get this system up and running on Sailrocket but it hasn't been easy or automatic. New software and hardware have to be made and put in place. The wind data is an absolutely crucial part of the equation for determining the boats real performance. In fact it is the first number you enter into the performance equation. Sailrockets performance is super sensitive to a knot or two difference in wind strength at the top end and here we were in conditions gusting slightly above our top end pondering a run which would give us inconclusive results at best. Whether we set a new top speed or even crashed... the reasons and re-enactments would all be speculative. For all I know we could get hit by a 25-6 knot gust down the course and later we would never know.
These were all the thoughts that were going through my head as I stood out there watching that little red disk float up and down inside the tube. The team were getting cold, taking it in turns holding onto sailrocket, standing in the timing hut or running up and down the windy beach to keep warm. I really wanted to sail. I felt confident in the boat and the high speeds that would follow but I had to take the 'cowboy' hat off and consider the big picture. The pressure is not on us at this stage to force us into risky scenarios. This day was a great one for taking risks. The rewards were right there and in 30 odd minutes we could all be jumping with joy and one step closer to our goal. On the flip side of the coin a crash or breakage caused by being overpowered in rough water due to a bad weather call because you didn't have your full array of instruments would have you kicking yourself.
Some times I feel I have to let these days go. They will come again and it is our job to be as prepared for them as we possibly can. When we are under real pressure to get results, we will use and abuse them. That was not the case, we were missing vital tools and that was that.
I quitely called it off.
Whilst putting Sailrocket safely back in the soft hangar I noted how windy it was. I think if we had our regular system over there we would have canned the day quicker. Still... it was an interesting day that forced me to review certain aspects of the project. It brought it home on how reliant we are on so many individual components if we are to function properly as a team conducting a big experiment. In some areas we are quite exposed without spares and backups but overall, considering our remote location, we are pretty good. As stated above, we had three systems for measuring wind and two for recording... we just got caught out this time.
We waited for the tide and then headed across the bumpy lagoon to speed-spot. The chop was really kicking up just around the corner from the launch ramp where the tide is rushing into the lagoon directly against the building breeze.
Earlier in the day we tried to ressurect the Tacktick wind wand but to no avail. We have three seperate wind measuring systems and today they were all down for different reasons. Whilst all the emails have been sent and orders placed...today we were short and we paid the price. We drove all over town looking for a replacement of some sort. A few places have weather stations mounted on their roof or balcony but their accuracy is always debateble in relation to what is happening over at speed-spot. The day was really shaping up so we headed across. I have a pretty good feel for the wind over there now and can usually guess within a knot or two of what is going on.
The strength was good when we arrived... probably sitting around 17-18 gusting 19-20... but it was a little west. The windsurfers were struggling to sail back upwind to the top of the course. Old Johan back at the yacht club had dug out an old mechanical wind guage, the type with the floating disc in a clear tube (the name of which escapes me). I brought it along. We stopped at the timing hut and watched the conditions. Due to the slight west component there was a small swell rolling down the course which had come from the 'second lagoon' which curves around upwind of the top of the course. I knew that any run done today would be fast so I wanted the water to be as flat as possible. I knew that the wind would square up to the beach... and probably build. It's not warm over there on speed-spot and the wind chill wears you down. It's relentless.
Sure enough the wind swung around a few degrees and increased by a few knots. The small westerly swell subsided.
It was now classic speed-spot conditions... 20-22 and gusting. The old wind guage is marked in M/S and I was doing the maths in the sand to check if the old 'Just double it for knots' rule is truly accurate(It pretty well is). I stood out in a clear flow of wind away from the timing huts and measured away. the wind gradually creapt up until I was seeing the odd 12 m/s gust and later even a little over. The course looked good.
I really wanted to go. Sailrocket is behaving well and I was confident that we could do something special in these conditions... but... but we would have virtually no wind data. As I stood out there measuring away with Johans old guage I pondered this aspect of the project. Getting accurate wind data off Sailrocket has been an issue from day1. I never expected it to be a problem. The trouble seems to be in combining a wind instrument with a data logger that is not the size of a laptop. Think about it, how many high speed small dinghies can do this from onboard? I'll make it easy for you... none! We are working hard with PI and B+G to get this system up and running on Sailrocket but it hasn't been easy or automatic. New software and hardware have to be made and put in place. The wind data is an absolutely crucial part of the equation for determining the boats real performance. In fact it is the first number you enter into the performance equation. Sailrockets performance is super sensitive to a knot or two difference in wind strength at the top end and here we were in conditions gusting slightly above our top end pondering a run which would give us inconclusive results at best. Whether we set a new top speed or even crashed... the reasons and re-enactments would all be speculative. For all I know we could get hit by a 25-6 knot gust down the course and later we would never know.
These were all the thoughts that were going through my head as I stood out there watching that little red disk float up and down inside the tube. The team were getting cold, taking it in turns holding onto sailrocket, standing in the timing hut or running up and down the windy beach to keep warm. I really wanted to sail. I felt confident in the boat and the high speeds that would follow but I had to take the 'cowboy' hat off and consider the big picture. The pressure is not on us at this stage to force us into risky scenarios. This day was a great one for taking risks. The rewards were right there and in 30 odd minutes we could all be jumping with joy and one step closer to our goal. On the flip side of the coin a crash or breakage caused by being overpowered in rough water due to a bad weather call because you didn't have your full array of instruments would have you kicking yourself.
Some times I feel I have to let these days go. They will come again and it is our job to be as prepared for them as we possibly can. When we are under real pressure to get results, we will use and abuse them. That was not the case, we were missing vital tools and that was that.
I quitely called it off.
Whilst putting Sailrocket safely back in the soft hangar I noted how windy it was. I think if we had our regular system over there we would have canned the day quicker. Still... it was an interesting day that forced me to review certain aspects of the project. It brought it home on how reliant we are on so many individual components if we are to function properly as a team conducting a big experiment. In some areas we are quite exposed without spares and backups but overall, considering our remote location, we are pretty good. As stated above, we had three systems for measuring wind and two for recording... we just got caught out this time.
posted by Paul at 7:26 am
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