High-Speed Sailing

Sailrocket has renamed, they are now Vestas Sailrocket. Their website has been updated to include much more detail about the craft and its controls. See it at:

http://www.sailrocket.com/links.htm

You will notice in viewing the photos of the cockpit and stern of the craft that the controls are a bit complex and that skipper Paul Larsen has his "hands and feet full".
Those of you, who have been reading Paul's blog, will have read how Sailrocket is a difficult craft to control, but as Paul has learned how to control it, he has been able to sail faster and retain control.

http://sailrocket.blogspot.com/

A light weight high-speed sailboat has extremely fast response to the wind and to the skipper's manipulation of the controls. The extreme example of this is the windsurfer, which as I previously posted is the most unstable sailboat.

A windsurfer is the simplest sail craft and has only two parts to control. Control is achieved by balancing the sail's force against the surfboard's force, via the sailor's body weight. Control is direct, since the sailor is holding the sail and is connected to the board via foot-straps. Control is as fast as the sailor's reaction time and is directly related to the skill of the sailor. Nils Rosenblad, Naish sail designer, was quoted as saying, "The (windsurfing) equipment hasn't evolved that much - people are just learning how to control it." (From Popular Science Oct 2005 p68)

I have already demonstrated with models and full-sized prototypes, that a light-weight high-speed sailboat can be set-up with simple controls that give the skipper total control of the craft under any condition. Control of the craft is actually the designer's problem, not the skipper's. The only thing the skipper needs to do is set the desired course at the desired speed. A properly set-up craft will remain stable on any point of sailing, with any wind strength, during any course change and while accelerating/decelerating.

Because I was able to achieve the stability and control described, I was considering putting my (then pre-teen) daughter in a record attempting craft, setting the controls and instructing her as to when to release the controls to stop the craft. Yes, that would have been risky if some unforeseen event had occurred, however she safely survived my wildest schemes. The point is this: the skipper's skill should be and can be devoted to making the craft go fast, not to keeping it under control.

Ladies, there's no reason one of you can't hold the World Sailing Speed Record. Any takers?

Bob