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 [...]

The America's Cup??!

03 May 2009
Frequently, when I mention I've been developing an exotic high-speed sailboat to someone, they ask if I'm going to sail it in the America's Cup. I explain that the traditionalists that are involved with that don't want to see a fast boat. They've clung to the slowest design class in sailing and poured millions into refinements. Meanwhile a windsurfer or kite boarder, at very little expense can go two to three times as fast.

Things got interesting when the cat, Stars and Stripes sailed and I had hoped to see the AC develop into a real innovative competition. But the old stogies decided that was way too much fun for their weak hearts and voted to go back to racing the most expensive slow plugs in the water. But there is hope! It looks like the next AC may be a competition of big fast trimarans. I hope this opens the competition up to more innovation.

I've read the Deed of Gift which is the basic rule governing the AC, and it looks to me like innovation in yacht design is encouraged. I've also been reading that Larry Ellison of Oracle is interested in seeing the AC develop into a Formula One style race with fast boats sailing at several venues each year, making for real spectator interest.

Not long after I first got Sailien performing well, and partly as a result of watching Greg Ketterman rocket around in Trifoiler, I realized that fast sailing competition could be developed into a good spectator sport. With Ellison advocating some real fun, AC just might get interesting.

I would like to see the rules of competition be wide open to innovation (that's how we make advances). May the best craft and crew win! You might be interested to know that I can configure Sailien to be a monohull, a cat, a tri, or even a quad for that matter, so I could, in theory, sail against the old stogies. "But get real Bob", if I came out with my version of a monohull, it would get declared illegal. I could only do it if I had big bucks behind me so I could sue 'em and have some real fun like the rich kids do.

Bob
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