Hydroptere is sailing solidly at 50+ knots and is the current standard to measure up to in high-speed sailing. The kite boarders are hammering away at the record but they need gale force winds to do it. As our understanding of fluid dynamics and structural engineering improves (along with high-strength [...]

Great sail for Hydroptere; congratulations to the whole team.

I am disappointed that Sailrocket fell short of their goal to break the outright record. However, they have been doing an outstanding job and Paul and all the crew are to be congratulated. They have been sailing extremely fast and there are very few craft of any type that can equal or exceed their speed. [...]

I hope you are watching Sailrocket's website. Paul and the whole crew are having more than the "legal limit" of fun!

Mark has made a couple of interesting comments about tip stall in connection with forward sweep. I'm sure that windsurfers have experienced the problem he described and I have been trying to understand what the cause might be.

I've been mulling over Sailrocket's last flip and I realized that I left out a key diagram when I posted the force diagrams for Sailien on 12 Dec 2008. Here it is and here's the key: The long blue line represents the airfoil (viewed edge on). The attached blue arrow represents the "lift" the airfoil [...]