Turbo sail - 100 knots?

[Rob melotti]

Just read Yachting World article about breaking the speed sailing record. There's an Aussie guy who doesn't think 100 knots is out of the question. My question is:
Has anyone tried heating up the leach of the sail? A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but surely it follows that if you heat the leach it will suck more air across the sail/wind creating more lift/thrust??

[dimitarp]

It is a fully

[frosh]

It sounds like a wet dream to me.

[Rob melotti]

Frosh - this should really get you going... What about super-cooling the luff while heating the leach? Mega-turbo!

[frosh]

Hi Rob, If you can get crossbow; see it at http://www.dcss.org/speedsl/crossbow.html bring it to Northern Queensland where they have been having absolute monster cyclones. Build a 50 meter long aka out of prepreg carbon fibre and put two guys out there during the next big breeze (250km/hour) and you will get a record that will last for centuries!

[TaSSie_deVil]

Either that, or die trying!!

[antonfourie]

It is only a matter of time, I am sure that climbing Everest sounded just as crazy before they got around to doing it .....

[Rob melotti]

But heroics aside, by creating your own air-flow with hot and cold portions of a sailwing... you could do 20 knots in a flat calm, rising to 100 knots in a 20-knot breeze. Not that I can prove a word of this.. just seeing if anyone else can seriously ruin my day-dream speed sailer

[antonfourie]

How would you get over the "hot air rises" issue and get it to flow along the sail ?

[SailDesign]

I'm going to wait until someone gets to 50 in a boat, then I'll worry about whether 100 is possible.
We all know that 100 knots under sail is possible - it is done frequently in ice-boats. Doing it with the drag and stability problems associated with soft water is the key....
Steve

[Rob melotti]

Well put SailDesign. Any ideas on antonfourie's design question?

[SailDesign]

Rob,
Which design question of Anton's?
Steve

[Rob melotti]

Originally Posted by antonfourie

How would you get over the "hot air rises" issue and get it to flow along the sail ?

Steve, I guess what you are saying is that high speed sailing on water is mainly a question of hull design - the sailwing/foil is already proven beyond 100 knots.
I guess what I'm wondering is whether any kind of heating/cooling mechanism could improve the basic design of the wing?
Anton's question has already stretched my (non-existent) practical knowledge of wind design... but what's on the horizon for sailwing design?

[SailDesign]

You're right, Rob, the 100mph thing is pretty much a given.
As far as the heating/cooling thing goes, how do you feel about people using electric motors during a sailing race? To apply enough heat to do any useful work against the cooling effect of 100mph (assuming the concept works in the first place) you would have to use a shiite-load of power. Is that really being propelled by the wind?
Steve

[SailDesign]

PS - Rob - A jet engine basically heats up air that travels over a foil, thus creating thrust - but it ain't sailing...