Maquarie Innovation-50+ knots!!

Gary,

I invite you to take the time to review my commentary about foilers. Any kind of foilers. I am a fan of the type and thoroughly enjoy the whole business of using foils for whatever the purpose. The fact that you have overlooked that bit of nicety as fundamental fact, says that you might just be seeing stuff in one dimension.

The business of dumping on Doug for his absolutely, over the top relentless slobber about all things foily, is limited to Doug, and Doug alone. I have been a keen observer of the Macquarie Innovations effort to break the speed record and have gone on record several times in an effort to draw attention to not only their work, but also the work of the Sailrocket team. Clearly, your foilista brother in blood, Mr. Lord, has spent an excessive amount of time wanking away about Hydroptere and in that process, has nearly forgotten about the work being done by these other guys.

Now, hallelujah!, Lord has rediscovered the Mac team, but only because they have accomplished what Hydrop was unable to produce. The kiting references are only to point out that they swiped the record right out from under the noses of the megabuck team efforts. The reality of that series of events from late last year just cooks the brains of the slobbering component of the foilista program.

Why you want to come at me, when you probably already know all this to be fact, is beyond me. Yes, we have had some lighthearted, even fun, skirmishes over a wide variety of topics and frankly, I have enjoyed them thoroughly because you are a fair and balanced thinker and not one who tends to the messy brand of expression.

This whole angle of the Mac team being foil assisted, while being pin point techno correct in the most hairsplitting of fashion, is just an exercise in grinding fairy dust. Just think a moment to the last time you referred to the working of a daggerboard as foil assist. Now, think about how the phrase is used in the current lexicon of sailing conversation. Think there might be a bit too much of a lawyer at work in all that?

Lastly, look back at my second to last post here and take this in...
"Actually, I fully expect a foiling kite board to blow right past the existing records we currently see. The dude will be in a bitchin' aero suit with even thinner control lines and there won't be a bar in his hands forcing the sailor to adopt a less than favorable aero drag signature. I don't know how fast that type of setup might go, but guys like Howes might if he teamed up with someone like Alex Caizergues. Maybe 60 knots... who knows?"

Does that really sound like a guy who is happy to get ugly over anything relating to foils?

Collect yourself, Mate. Life is about the subtlety, which surrounds us all.

 

I enjoy the obvious work in the direction of humor, John. It's not show-stopping material, but it did bring a smile to my face and that's always a good thing.

All of these boats are exciting to watch for different reasons. Hydrop is clearly an interesting craft, but the, screaming through ocean waves, part of the equation is really something yet to be proven with any consistency. It's been quite a while since the boat even went out in blue water and let it hang out. When it did so, it blew-off one of the main foils and took an ugly tumble back out of the clouds. If you want to believe that the boat can handle that kind of sea state while foiling at very high speed, please feel free to see it that way. I don't. I am leaving that potential on the table and not including it in the known work of the boat to this point.

Maybe it can. Maybe not. "We'll see" is about all that can really be said with any degree of confidence.

Bi directional speed, as in a broad reach over each side of the boat? If you look at the work of these dedicated craft, including kites, you will see that they all sail on one side.

Automotive speed records are a combination of both directions on the course because of the effect of the wind on the speed potential. It's two different purposes with two, entirely different motive means. I live just a few miles from the Bonneville Salt Flats where each year there are fairly large gatherings of all classes of wheeled vehicles looking to give it a go, so I've seen a lot of this process since way back in the early seventies. The only similarity is that they are all seeking the highest possible speed.

 

hey you pussycats, whatever!
***
meanwhile back to the subject: Cool! Congrats to the team
& thanks for the video.
Love the sound of it passing -jetlike.

 

Salt Flats

Chris, You live a few miles from Bonneville! Do you live in Wendover?

Anyway Bonneville would be a great place to set the sailing record. As you must know, when it rains out their a few inches of water forms on top of the salt. Now all you need is wind after a rain storm and you'd have the perfect "bottom effect" (or "ground effect") planning pond. The French idea of a plastic covered parking lot has the problem of finding a truly flat lot without any parked cars.