Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: NeilT on 19/04/2008 17:52:47
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The current saling speed record is held by this guy;-
http://www.sailing.org/22376.php (http://www.sailing.org/22376.php)
who is a windsurfer.
The question is which craft would be best suited to beat this record, another windsurfer, a kite board where the sail (kite) is flown high in the air, or a conventional fixed mast yacht, where a large sail can be balanced against the size of the craft ?
And, is 50 knots approaching an upper limit for sail driven craft?
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This was discussed recently - do a search - but 50mph rings a bell.
The sailing speed record is held by a land-based vehicle, I believe - much lower friction - and they can point higher into the wind if you wanted to do the run in both directions, like all good speed records.
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Many thanks for that. I forgot to specify that my post related to the water speed record rather than land.
Does this mean that the water interface is the limiting factor for the water speed record rather than the means of propulsion ie the sail or kite?
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We're into definitions of 'sailing craft' here. You could imagine a kite with a tiny load, just touching the water. That could go at any speed that the wind might be doing. But, could you control it in a hurricane and could you call it a sailing craft?
For a real boat, the limiting factor is drag. That's why planing craft can go so much faster than displacement craft.
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I remember in 70's the sailing speed record used to be a week long competition and the fastest boat of the week won the prize. There was none of this waiting around for the perfect wind nonsense. It started of as low key afair but as the years went on, a few people were trying to use hydrofoils and solid sails.
Usually it was a thing called Crossbow that won it. It was a 60ft narrow hull with an outrigger and a load of sail. The magic figure then was 40 knots.
This thing looks like it could be quite fast once they get a few things sorted, http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AapePEpER2M (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AapePEpER2M)
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I remember something about that but, since the 70s, there have been a lot of suicidal eejits on windsurfers who have done a lot better. They seem prepared to go out in any weather with that 'force field' which also belongs to young male cyclists.