High-Speed Sailing

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 [...]

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/

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 [...]

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 [...]

Wind Jet

03 May 2008

Next up: Wind Jet. I've been watching Wind Jet's website for a while and they have some great sail craft.
http://www.windjet.co.uk/

I feel confident that Wind Jet will set new land and ice speed records as soon as they get the conditions needed. I was disappointed that they did not get good enough ice this winter to make a run at that record. I am looking forward to Aug. and Sep. when they plan to go after the land record in Australia.

Wind Jet also has a (water) sailing speed quest planned for the future. It's a water craft towed by a kite. I don't have much info and I don't think it's active currently.

By the way, the craft that I designed would work on land or ice by substituting the parts that float it, with wheels or runners. I don't think it would be as practical as existing craft, except - if it were "turned inside-out" -- it might be good for very high-speed runs.

In my last post I said we have to get rid of all ballast to go really fast. Bernard Smith showed us how to do that. Trifoiler demonstrated another way to eliminate ballast but that system limits top speed.

Land/ice yachts use weight (the weight of the craft and crew) to balance the craft. I don't know if they ever carry extra ballast for high wind conditions. I believe that Wind Jet is using airfoils on the cross-arms to help keep the craft on "the deck". This is a better approach than carrying weight for high winds.

Sailing on land or ice has huge advantages over sailing on water. The wind doesn't kick up waves, wheels and runners have very low drag and they don't sink into the surface. There is, however, one area that water has an advantage. Done right (Bernard Smith, Sailrocket, my designs, and kites --if set up right) the windward (leeway resisting) foil "hooks" the water.

On land, a limiting speed factor is the point at which the wheels start to slide sideways. Ice is much better and the boat probably flips before the runners slip. But by "hooking" the water we have the ability to hold "any amount" of wind force. I have been aware of what this potentially means for a number of years, I think there is a lot of speed ahead of us. This is the future of high-speed sailing and I consider any other approach (that I know of) to be obsolete.

Bob

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