Vestas Sailrocket

[frank pedersen]

I haven't made much progress in learning how to post pictures, but with any luck rbgarr will post the picture at www.sailrocket.com. Vestas is a large Danish company that makes wind turbines. They are one of the major sponsors of a novel craft with which they hope to sail at speeds exceeding 50 knots. One fascinating feature in the picture is that the lee pod is out of the water. That means they have overcome what is normally the heeling force of the sail, which is a remarkable thing.

[rbgarr]

Try tinypic.com That's how I post all pictures (at least from a Mac):

Copy or put photos on your desktop
Go to tinypic.com
Select Upload, wait
" Browse, wait
" photo from list that appears, and Open, wait
" select size for message boards or larger, wait
" Upload Now!, wait
Copy the link that appears and paste to WB post

It reads longer than it takes.

You can trash the photo afterwards or file it.

I used to go through the photohosting route but they screwed up all my photo folders so I do this now.

Everyone's preferences are their own, of course.

[IMG]http://i37.tinypic.com/kefade.jpg

http://i37.tinypic.com/xe23k3.jpg

[frank pedersen]

Thanks twice over: (1) for posting the picture, and (2) for the lucid directions.

[Chip-skiff]

Given the angle of the wing, it looks as if there'd be quite bit of lift at speed. Would that mean a considerable degree of lee helm?

[MiddleAgesMan]

Lee helm is what they look for as I understand it. I watched all the videos and they only mentioned it once but they were obviously happy when they achieved it.

One of the last videos had the designer talkiing about how he eliminated any tendency to heel which he attributed to a hydrofoil at the forward end of the main ama across from and forward of the sail. He said the foil's angle equaled that of the mast-sail and thus counteracted heeling forces. On the surface it appears the angle of the sail leaning into the wind provides lift to prevent burying the leeward ama, even lifting it out of the water. I'm thinking the designer's remarks were simply misdirection for the benefit of the competition--"don't look at that angled sail look over here at this hydrofoil."

[MiddleAgesMan]

I didn't see it in any of the videos but in the photo above there appears to be a lifting surface on the crossbeam just under the sail. It looks just like an aileron and is at the right angle to provide lift and resist burying the leeward ama.

Very cool concept for breaking records but since it can only sail on one tack it's going to take a lot of work to bring the concept into the real world.

[Crewman]

Strange machine from the border of aerospace and shipbuilding sectors. We in Poland have designed other type of wing to sail.

:)

[outofthenorm]

The driver's hat might make Thorne jealous. :D

[Chip-skiff]

The drama of beating upwind in large part owes to the different effects of lifting force on the sail and brute windage. By canting the wing so steeply, a lot of the lift is angled upward. (If the Strylians built 18 footers like this, they'd end up in orbit).

Applied-physics-wise, the less contact with the water, the better: less shear, less trouble with waves & turbulence.

So for pure velocity, these wing & foil designs are the ticket. But the returns, for recreational sailing, might diminish in due proportion to the speed achieved.

Thrilling, yup. But likely not much fun.

[Crewman]

Engineer Reginald J. Mitchell may be proud of this boat. What can be seen as a "powerplant" of this futuristic boat is like famous eliptical wing of Spitfire fighter designed by Mitchell.

[gert]

more detail:
http://www.sailrocket.com/images/gallery/Stills2/VSR1.jpghttp://www.sailrocket.com/images/gallery/Stills2/VSR2.jpg

[gregleeber]

I dont get it.

where does the skipper sit?

how does this thing work?

[johnw]

He sits in back with an aerodynamic helmet.

[Chris Ostlind]

Just punched-out a 47.35 knot number for 500 meters. On the next run she went flying in a most spectacular fashion.

http://www.sailrocket.com/live/?q=blog/3

For this to stand, it will have to pass the scrutiny of the governing, WSSRC, council and will probably see some adjustment, if not outright denial for any of dozens of technical reasons.

Still, very interesting.

[willmarsh3]

Pretty cool!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSOJH8Gi_Y8

[Steve Paskey]

Oops.

http://www.sailrocket.com/live/files/blog_uploads/Epic-RUN-065-LR.jpg
http://www.sailrocket.com/live/files/blog_uploads/Epic-RUN-066-LR.jpg
http://www.sailrocket.com/live/files/blog_uploads/Epic-RUN-067-LR.jpg
http://www.sailrocket.com/live/files/blog_uploads/Epic-RUN-068-LR.jpg
http://www.sailrocket.com/live/files/blog_uploads/Epic-RUN-070-LR.jpg

[johnw]

At least he's not looking down at the seagulls...

[frank pedersen]

I am forced to be more reserved in the use of the phrase "we were really flying" to describe a fast leg off the wind.

[Captain Blight]

there's not a lot of stability inherent in that design, is there?

Looking at that, I wonder how hard it would be to build a decoupler that would allow the wing to fly free as a kite would. To use the boat to launch the wing, have control lines then spool out and then fly the wing independantly of the boat. They're more than halfway there.

Hmmmmmmmm.

[johnw]

Simpler if they just let it streamline. It would stop producing lift, but the drag would be minimal.

[frank pedersen]

I located a reference that gives more background on the Sailrocket design as well as previous efforts to attain these speeds; the designer is Bernard Smith. The reference: Mr. Smith's Amazing Sailboats (www.geocities.com/aerohydro).

[rbgarr]

The Hydropteres still appeal to me. What I wouldn't give to get a ride aboard one. It would be even more fun because I wouldn't understand what everybody was yelling! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZgY7QNQs5w&feature=related

"Those French. They have a different word for everything!"
-Steve Martin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBI1PnVy5y4&feature=related