High-Speed Sailing

Vessel Name: Sailien
Vessel Make/Model: Experimental/custom
Recent Blog Posts
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.

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 [...]

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 [...]

What Advantage?

08 October 2008
Bob

I had an interesting comment to my last post. Some of these comments get me going in about seven directions at once and are much appreciated. I'll see if I can collect my wits enough to provide a sensible response.

Let me start by again saying that this blog is my view, based on my own study and observation. Nothing in it is true because I say so; it's only true to the degree that you find it workable. This also holds for anyone's statements no matter how many PhD's they have or how popular they are. I'm going to be navigating some risky shoals; hope I can keep our "craft" intact.

First, let me point out that the sailing speed record competition is a game. As such there will be winners and losers; the winner gets the record, the rest of us "walk". The record itself is actually the least important aspect of this competition. The most important thing is that we participate even if only by following the competition, discussing it, cheering our favorites on etc. Of course the actual participants (including team members) are having the most fun. Next in importance is the technology that is being developed, we all win by this and much of it will become the new standard in sailing.

Since we have a game and favorites, we wish for "our" favorite to be seen as best. As a result we start to talk about how "the other guy has an advantage because... and if I had the same advantage, I'd beat him..." This is perfectly OK and part of the fun, as long as we don't get too serious about it.

At this point let me state that no one has any advantage in this competition. Whoever can sail the fastest, per the rules, gets the record. Each competitor can choose or invent whatever craft they think will be fastest and their choice will determine their speed potential. The only variable is the wind, which could be called luck or "act of god". I discussed this a bit in my post "The Wild Variable" of 13 May 08.

I might add that I have mixed feelings about the recent "50 cm. depth" rule. With that rule we eliminate research into sailing on thin water films, which might have resulted in some useful developments. On the other hand, thin film sailing probably belongs to land or ice sailing and this rule eliminates any argument. My view is that the kite boarders would be slower on a thin film than in water, even though they had less drag. I'm sure this will surprise some of you, but read my post "Hooking the Water" and my discussions of going faster than the wind. You can't go faster than the wind without using the water to generate a force counter to the wind's force be it with keel, centerboard, fin, edge, or whatever. Sailing on a thin film would be about the same as replacing a land yacht's wheels with balls that had no directional control. At that point, you would be looking for hurricane force winds to get the record, same as my earlier comment about a parachute and water skis.

Bob
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