Fastest Sailboat on the Planet!

Hydroptere-Fastest Sailboat on the Planet!

Statement from Team Hydroptere:

Alain Thebault and the whole Hydroptere team congratulate Alexandre Caizergues for his incredible performancei.e. 54.1 knots over 500 meters. yesterday in Namibia. Thus Alexandre Caizergues sets the reference time for 500 meters.
However, Hydroptere remains the holder of the absolute sailing speed record on one nautical mile at 51.17 knots. This record was beaten[set by Hydroptere] last November in Hyeres.

Note: record accomplished on the open sea with 1.5 m waves at end of run.

 

ya its often the case that its the fans who are the belligerents and the participants who politely cheer one another on

Stan ( nice to have you still around ) raised an interesting point
ice is a form of water and unless the phase of water was defined in the rules then we have a whole new can of worms to examine

 

Does that bring sailplanes diving at terminal velocity into the game as they are sailing on the vapor form of water?

How ABSURD. How ridiculous. How preposterous!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

is it any less absurd to consider a wake board in a ditch a sailing vessel ?

surely the authors of those rules did not intend for someone to literally dig a ditch and pretend a slab of foam is actually a boat did they


I guess I am slowly forming an opinion here cause if they were out on open water or at least in similar conditions then maybe you could stretch things and draw some comparisons but having read the last few posts and realizing that these guys are riding on glass then I'm not seeing much of a difference between that and asking about the phase of the water one is riding on

 

I bet even if they were not in a man made channel, but in a flat piece of sea near the beach (like mos tother atempts) half the people here would still argue that its not fair. Having the purpose designed course actually overcomes a lot of the dificulties the other projects have such as having the time ratified over a 500m course....

 

What, no comment as to water vapor being a viable medium? If you allow the solid form of water, as you present in your comment, then vapor works too. Well, unless you missed the potential while dozing in science class.

Since we all know what a sailplane might be able to do to the speed record in the merest notion of water vapor, as that's all it would take to qualify, what say you drop the pretense with that iceboat stuff? It's a red herring construct if there ever were one.

"Surely the authors didn't intend"? Uhhh, you sure about that, Boston? A unique category for kiteboarding was included in the WSSRC distinctions well after the ditch in France had been operable, as well as several other very fast, ditch-like, attempts that had not been under sanction by the organization. They knew all about the potential of ditches and decided to let it be as a limiting rule. If you still have an issue, then why not poll the members of the WSSRC board. Pretty much all those folks are very recognizable members of the International sailing community and acces to them via email can easily be discovered. Otherwise, this is blind speculation.

It has already been pointed out that L'Hydroptere arranged for a very specific site for their record attempts. If the bombast is about ocean capable, then why not do it out on the open ocean and put the argument to rest? If the record is a carefully controlled effort on specific waters in specific conditions, then drop the lame pretense that its about an ocean-going craft and call it for what it is; the very same thing, only at the scale of the boat in question.

I see from the records, that Thomas Coville aboard Sodeb'O holds the solo 24 hour record for a real, open ocean speed/distance effort. The record was set in the southern ocean off the tip of Africa. Francis Joyon on IDEC is but a tick slower. If it's about open ocean stuff, then let's get L'Hydroptere, out there in the Southern Ocean and see what it can do. Otherwise, everything about ocean-going capable is bunk.

All this is said while recognizing that the big foiler is quite a special and incredible machine. But a weapon out on the open sea it is not.

 

L'Hydroptere is reconfigured for speed record attempts, admittedly, but she gets around at sea, according to http://www.hydroptere.com/_en/

- and I quote "l'Hydroptère's calendar is now orientated towards deep sea" and a plan to take shot at the 24 hour record was announced a couple of years ago: provided they don't flip l'Hydroptère again, of course!

She is shown at 40 k in the Solent. Obviously speed attempts are made in the best available conditions suited to the vessel and this may limit the location - a sea for l'Hydroptère, and a ditch for something designed for a ditch.

 

well how about if you post the actual rules and we can see for ourselves if they mention the phase of the H2O

if they don't then things get sticky

its kinda like the difference between a boat and a log that floats

they might have said and meant boat but then some pot head came along and stretched the meaning of the word boat
sorta like questioning the phase of the water one is sailing in/on

seems like a reasonable comparison

 

10 seconds on Google: http://www.sailspeedrecords.com/

Please, Boston, it's your argument, you support it. One hint, it's clearly shown on the rules page for the 500m designation and applies to the one mile distance, as well.

Can someone pass Boston his serving of herring? ;-)

 

wrong
I'm merely agreeing with you on the absurdity of stretching the vernacular so far beyond recognition that anything that floats is considered a sailing vessel

and I used the example someone else presented to the group which you agreed was absurd

frankly I'd love to see a head to head competition between the two but if its not possible because the two crafts are so completely different then maybe a little better definitions are in order

clearly the two are so vastly different that no reasonable comparison or record can be established unless both vessels are operating under the same conditions

a few waves and those kites would be a whole lot slower is my bet

I'm looking forward to a head to head race on open water in conditions conducive to both vehicles

would settle it if you ask me

 

I guess one of the reasons you will not see a head to head showdown is that they sail at quite different wind angles. The kites are not as efficient and the rider has a large amount of drag which increases significantly as the apparant wind angle decreases

 

The record is for an average speed over 500m so I dont see why they should be operating under the same conditions, surely each type of challange would be wanting to operate in its optimal design conditions, which as far as I can see both are

 

I didn't agree that anything was, as you put it, absurd. If you are referencing the use of the terms ABSURD, ridiculous and preposterous with a half dozen exclamation points, then you completely missed that I was playing with you and Doug and I'm sure you know the application.

OK, as long as you apply appropriately scaled waves to Hydroptere. Still think it would be fast? Hey, if you are going to apply a bogus metric, then let's just apply it across the board.

For discussion's sake, let's assume that the kiteboards are 3 feet long. Let's further assume that you'd like to make them go through a 2 foot chop to knock a hole in their speed potential. OK, so 3 goes into 60 (LOA of Hydroptere) 20 times. Multiply the kite boarders wave height by 20 and you get 40 foot waves. In that relative sea state I'd pretty much say that Hydroptere would be fighting to stay in one piece, forget going fast anywhere.

The only thing that is settled is that the kites are the fastest and Hydroptere has lost its briefly held crown. Everything else is moot, so why bother trying to settle anything?

 

you mean that you didn't suggest that the vapor in the atmosphere might qualify and then suggest that was absurd

 

I'm starting to lose track in the cloud of absurdity and preposterousness! Can we agree these things?

1. The rules are the rules, and if you comply with the rules when setting a record, then you can claim the record.

2. The speed sailing achievements of both the kites and hydroptere (and any other teams with speeds over 40 kts) are impressive.

3. Attempting to denigrate speed sailing contenders because they don't comply with a personal set of criteria that are not reflected in the speed sailing rules is just an artbitrary exercise in picking favourites.