Dangerous designs?

Discussion in 'Sailboats' started by usa2, Nov 18, 2005.

  1. usa2
    Joined: Jan 2005
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    usa2 Senior Member

    heres the list:
    Alfa Romeo- hit a sunfish, sucked a plastic bag into the cooling intake for her engine and couldnt race. They also had an electrical failure over the summer that caused them to drop out of a race.
    Wild Oats- hit a sunfish and had to be hauled out to repair the damage. Also, there are rumors that her canard and rudder have been enlarged slightly due to lack of lift at low speeds.
    Skandia-hit 2 sunfish on her delivery trip from Melbourne to Sydney.
    AAPT2- moved rudder back 150 cm, and their mainsail doesnt fit the mast, nor does it seem to want to stay up the mast.

    Okay, so Konica Minolta hasnt had any problems, except from being a lot slower than every other big boat.
    The sunfish seem to be posing a problem. Whoever doesnt hit them will win.
     
  2. Doug Lord

    Doug Lord Guest

    Wild Oats

    Never heard of Wild Oats hitting a sunfish-when? The rumor about the cannard is untrue-done told you that once before at least according to Jim Pugh.
    Geez,I thought you were saying something important about the last few weeks and the two overwhelmingly fast, extremely well built and totally superior CBTF boats.. GO CBTF!
     
  3. usa2
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    usa2 Senior Member

    WO hit a sunfish with her canard during the Rolex Trophy. So did AR. AR hit the keel bulb off the sunfish, which the crew seem to believe was better than hitting the canard.
    Now on the issue with Wild Oats XI's canard, it is just rumors, there have been no confirmed reports that the foils have been enlarged. It is known that they have at least damaged it. Wild Oats X did have problems with leeway, or her sailing master-Mark Richardson- would not have told Seahorse magazine that she did. That problem was solved by going to the sailmakers, not the designers.
     
  4. Doug Lord

    Doug Lord Guest

    Sydney-Hobart

    So who's going to win? And Merry Christmas!
     
  5. usa2
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    usa2 Senior Member

    winner?

    no idea, though i would like to believe that Konica Minolta could somehow miraculously pull it off. In reality though, she is way behind the others.
    Merry Christmas to you too, Doug, and everyone else.
     
  6. marshmat
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    marshmat Senior Member

    I've never really thought of a sunfish as being such a dangerous creature!
    But I guess with high-aspect appendages sticking way down at high speed, such an animal could really do a number on a boat... much like deer and minivans around here....
     
  7. D'ARTOIS
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    D'ARTOIS Senior Member


    Sunfish, mola mola, 11 ft and weighing 3000 lbs..... (see pics)

    The pictures are made by Michael Johnson, I took them from the net......
     

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  8. sharpii2
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    sharpii2 Senior Member

    I can easily imagine the CBTF winning the race then winning all others. Then I can imagine someday needing an example of this tricky, expensive, and fragile technology to have any hope of winning.

    Then I can imagine some POed fixed keeler ordering an example of Proffessor Fate's Imfamous Sun Fish Summoner(R).

    Then I can imagine it working so well that it puts almost every CBTF out of the race. Every one but one.

    Drat!

    Oh well. I guess there's no stopping the march of progre$$.

    Bob
     
  9. Doug Lord

    Doug Lord Guest

    Sunfish "gun"

    Reichel-Pugh and CBTFco are way ahead of you: they have developed a concentrated force beam "gun" mounted just forward of the forward foil.
    When the "gun" proximity sensor picks up a Sunfish ,the beam is activated and pushes the Sunfish out of the way. It almost worked last night but there was still a slight impact but no damage. Guess they have to turn up the power a bit....
     
  10. sharpii2
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    sharpii2 Senior Member

    Double Drat!!
     
  11. D'ARTOIS
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    D'ARTOIS Senior Member

    It is getting more crazy by the day - first of all an underdeveloped keel-system and now one must add an electronic device putting those harmless creatures out of the way via an adapted mil tech device that rays a strong sonar beam if something comes ahead...... and when it isn't a sunfish but a floating log? Will the log go out of the way then too? Too crazy for words....... en Francais: imbecile.....
     
  12. Vega
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    Vega Senior Member

    When I saw the picture, I recognized the fish and I didn't understand the problem...till I saw the diver.
    Around here we have a miniature of that one, called "Peixe Lua", translates as Moonfish, but normally it is around 5 or 6 kgs and I have never heard of one with more than 15kgs.

    Big ones like the ones in the photo are normal around there?
     
  13. Doug Lord

    Doug Lord Guest

    For Shame

    Underdeveloped keel system? If you're talking about CBTF you're 100% wrong: the system has been continuosly developed for over 25 years!
    As to the Sunfish "gun": it has a log smasher function but first the sensor listens for a heartbeat so that no marine mammal or fish is accidently blown to bits. If it doesn't detect a heartbeat within a nano second it automatically goes to full power instanty pulverizing anything that's formerly alive or solid. They say it makes a big "swish" disturbance in the water ahead. Most people think that the big canting keel boats run the engine to be able to move the keel; not true: they have to run the engine to maintain maximum charge on the "gun". There is a rumor that a crew member intervened to prevent Neville Chricton from using the damn thing on another boat....
     
  14. Vega
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    Vega Senior Member


    It should have also a container pulverising function....Now that would be an interesting future for sailing. Sail boats running their engines at full blast to energize their ray guns, pulverizing everything in their way. Hey,That would even put an end to Piratie...

    D'Artois, Crétinerie would be more apropriate to describe the idea, or the Portuguese word "cretinice".
     

  15. D'ARTOIS
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    D'ARTOIS Senior Member

    Paulo, I fully agree with you, using straightforward military technology on a sailing vesel to destroy eventual obstacles that are ahead and that cannot be scrutinised (that hartbeat in a nanosecond is pure and only bull++t) is close to criminal - or is - in my opinion.

    As Doug stated, the next step wil be that they use this device on other competing vessels, if this comes out in the daily media, it wil create a huge scandal. Greenpeace blocking those VOR vesels in order to forecome harm to seacreatures that are in the way of those boats. C'est complètement ridicule et de raison: crétinerie!!

    I will check this and if it this turns out to be true this story might have a long tail, that much I can promise!!

    For the time being I don't believe it.
     
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