High-Speed Sailing

Vessel Name: Sailien
Vessel Make/Model: Experimental/custom
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28 September 2013

The America’s Cup

I watched, with interest, the videos of the 34th America’s Cup. At last we have fast sailboats engaged in a competition that is fun to watch. The virtual images (such as course boundaries, distance grid lines, separation between boats, etc.) overlaid on the real images really helps to keep the race [...]

31 August 2013

100 Knots for Hydroptere?

The latest news from Hydroptere is that they have plans for a 100 knot sailboat. This was posted on 26 Aug 2013, so look for that date at this address. http://hydroptere.com/en/the-news/last-news/

17 November 2012

Aptly named Sailrocket, blasts off!

While yet to be ratified, Sailrocket posted an average speed over 500 meters of 59 knots. I will not be surprised if they increase their record into the 60 knot range during this record attempt.

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02 January 2012

More drag for VSR2?

I want to start by pointing out that the whole VSR2 team has done a stellar job and has demonstrated conclusively that the forces that drive a sailboat can be aligned for roll stability without using ballast and without using any down-force. (Trifoiler achieved roll stability by using down-force, but [...]

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18 December 2011

My analysis of Sailrocket

I copied a diagram of VSR2 (wing doesn’t show well) and added in the major force arrows that apply. Be aware that these arrows are not correct in terms of scale (length) and some of their locations are guesses, however I believe I’m correct enough for us to learn something about what VSR2 has been [...]

23 October 2011

60 is within reach, what’s next?

I have been watching Sailrocket’s progress with great interest and there’s no question they have a winner. I fully expect to see them reach 60kt in the near future. Sailrocket has now demonstrated what I first learned with my models and again with my full-sized prototypes, that if you get the forces [...]

More on the Swedish Challenge

23 June 2008
Bob

I'd like to comment more on The Swedish Speed Sailing Challenge.

http://www.trampofoil.com/speedsailing/index.html

I noticed an interesting statement on the SSSC website:
"One minor problem is that the visibility for the helmsman is rather poor, but since it isn't possible to steer the boat anyway it hasn't become a problem yet."
Interesting approach, the craft is apparently set up to run at a particular angle to the wind and that's all it will do. Any wind shift will result in a course change. This indicates that the angle, that the paravane's anti-drift hydrofoil is set at, dictates the course.

I described what I believe to be the basic characteristics of the paravane previously, I'll add some comments. The paravane is described as being able to take plus or minus 20 g-force of vertical acceleration while it is tracking the water's surface. That means in choppy seas, it will be moving rapidly up and down as it crosses each wave crest and trough; the greater the speed the more violent the motion. I'm sure this would add drag and I'm curious as to what the limit is (recall that I said, if the paravane pulls out of the water, the craft capsizes).

Do any of you know if anything is happening with this craft currently? Their website doesn't appear to have been updated for over a year.

Bob
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