Blown out...
Whilst the huge predicted swell hasn't materialised in the manner the forecast described... it's not exactly flat out there. There is alot of water moving around in an ominous manner. It was forecast to be around 22 knots today so when the wind came up we headed out to speedspot. The tide was coming in when we crossed the lagoon so it was pretty rough.
During the morning we had angled the forward planing surface to slightly raise the windward rail. Hopefully when the pod flies now this means that the planing surface will ride more like it has in previous runs when the pod was down in the water. I'm not overly happy with this as a final solution... but more as a trial. I think the real solution will involve a new forward planing surface with either a longitudunal step i.e. running fore and aft like some speed boat hulls as the contact patch will naturally get smaller as Sailrocket goes faster and the steps will then act to stop the outward flying spray. Other options include V'd surfaces, double concaves, assymetric surfaces, spray rails... or any combination of these. You have to remember that Sailrocket will roll a little bit as the pod flies higher and lower down a run. I don't think that active beam-flap control is worth exploring yet for a number of complexity related reasons.
This new issue of roll induced spray has temporarily put on hold the program of stepping up through the rudders to the high speed system... and this was what I was thinking about as I looked out at another 'top-end' day from the timing hut at 'speed-spot'. I knew I could probably punch out another top speed in these conditions but I also knew that it had all the potential of being another 'rodeo-ride' that would involve a level of risk and wear and tear without necessarily providing answers to the immediate issues of spray control and fine control. Ultimately we should be able to go out in this stuff... but only after the issues are resolved. Today I didn't want to just prove I could sail. We've done that.
The day did feel ominous. The surge of water brought on by the swell heightened the sensation and in the end I decided to can it. The wind quickly built to well over 25 knots... perhaps even 30 at times and the ride across the lagoon was the roughest yet. Really punishing the boat. We were glad we had built the extra flotation for the pod as it saved our bacon today. We had to hold the boat down as we wheeled it up the ramp out of the water.
Needless to say, I was pretty happy to get it all away today. All the windsurfers came back due to being overpowered.
So not our day... but we tried... and you get that in this gig.
Meanwhile we start designing a second forward planing surface to plug and play with.
Good to see ol' Walvis pumping out the big days from time to time. Only on odd occasions does it get any windier than this.
Let's see what tomorrow brings.
Cheers, Paul.
During the morning we had angled the forward planing surface to slightly raise the windward rail. Hopefully when the pod flies now this means that the planing surface will ride more like it has in previous runs when the pod was down in the water. I'm not overly happy with this as a final solution... but more as a trial. I think the real solution will involve a new forward planing surface with either a longitudunal step i.e. running fore and aft like some speed boat hulls as the contact patch will naturally get smaller as Sailrocket goes faster and the steps will then act to stop the outward flying spray. Other options include V'd surfaces, double concaves, assymetric surfaces, spray rails... or any combination of these. You have to remember that Sailrocket will roll a little bit as the pod flies higher and lower down a run. I don't think that active beam-flap control is worth exploring yet for a number of complexity related reasons.
This new issue of roll induced spray has temporarily put on hold the program of stepping up through the rudders to the high speed system... and this was what I was thinking about as I looked out at another 'top-end' day from the timing hut at 'speed-spot'. I knew I could probably punch out another top speed in these conditions but I also knew that it had all the potential of being another 'rodeo-ride' that would involve a level of risk and wear and tear without necessarily providing answers to the immediate issues of spray control and fine control. Ultimately we should be able to go out in this stuff... but only after the issues are resolved. Today I didn't want to just prove I could sail. We've done that.
The day did feel ominous. The surge of water brought on by the swell heightened the sensation and in the end I decided to can it. The wind quickly built to well over 25 knots... perhaps even 30 at times and the ride across the lagoon was the roughest yet. Really punishing the boat. We were glad we had built the extra flotation for the pod as it saved our bacon today. We had to hold the boat down as we wheeled it up the ramp out of the water.
Needless to say, I was pretty happy to get it all away today. All the windsurfers came back due to being overpowered.
So not our day... but we tried... and you get that in this gig.
Meanwhile we start designing a second forward planing surface to plug and play with.
Good to see ol' Walvis pumping out the big days from time to time. Only on odd occasions does it get any windier than this.
Let's see what tomorrow brings.
Cheers, Paul.
posted by Paul at 8:10 pm
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