...to smash all records

https://robbreport.com/motors/marine/moonshoti-smash-sailing-speed-record-1234655312/

 

Sailrocket did 65 knots not 55.

 

I'm delighted that the windsurfing speed record has just been broken - by a 52 year old. 56knots on 3 or 4 grands worth of kit is pretty cool.

 

Seeing them compete against SP80 is going to be interesting.

https://sp80.ch/

 

When I saw the first post I thought that it was SP80 with a new sponsor...
SP80 was posting to you tube about a year ago and were very pleasant to chat with.
When I see these concepts I wonder how they get through low speeds -before supercavitation of the hydrofoil it's draggy, and that kite will likely need to be quite heavy to handle forces at top speed.

 

Just a friendly observation, but it looks like a kite with an anchor.

At some point, the benefit of being attached to water and the resultant drag becomes only a technicality.

Apologies here. I see some benefit to designing the incredible less drag and less cavitation foil, but they are also coming up against the practical limit of how not to build an aircraft and then a better and better aircraft...

 

They can't do what they are doing without the water. The faster option might be a rail, but without the directional resistance of the water, they would just be a dandelion seed floating in the air.

They could go for a glider configuration. I want to know where the definition of a sail stops or a boat? Is it a boat because some portion is in the water? Is it a boat because it sits in the water when at rest? Does it count as a sail without the terran-based contact?

 

Yes, a dandelion seed. Of course without lateral resistance relative airspeed drops to zero, and the fluff drops to the ground.

 

...or is it a submarine?

 

This idea has been kicking around since the mid-1970's. I wondered when somebody would pony up the money. FWIW, the depressor is needed, other wise it wouldn't work. For there to be a sail, there has to be a keel.