In reaction to a submission about a landsailer that could make speeds of
120mph, Tracy recently wrote:
> In a 120mph wind? Where do they find such wind with flat land to
> race on that
> isn't covered in dunes?
While 120mph is extreme speed for any sailcraft, it would not require winds
of 120mph. The viability of sailcraft of various kinds to travel
significantly faster than windspeed is well documented and happens every day
with windsurfers, kitesurfers, iceboats, landsailers, sailboats with
hydrofoils, etc. While sailcraft are often seen as 'simply being pushed
along by the wind', this is only the case when travelling downwind. When
travelling more like perpendicular to the wind, on a 'point of sail'
referred to as a 'broad reach', sailcraft become a rather sophisticated
balance of vectors, taking wonderful advantage of lift over the foil section
of the winglike sail to produce speeds potentially surprisingly higher than
the wind itself, especially when the medium of travel is low friction (as in
an iceboat or wheeled landsailer) as opposed to high friction (as in a
traditional displacement hull of a large sailboat). Even not particularly
sophisticated iceboats can sail at sixty miles per hour in a 30 or 40 mph
wind.
Lift,
Scobie in Seattle.
>
> --
> Tracy Reed http://www.ultraviolet.org
> The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armour to
> lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the
> fact that it was he who, by peddling second-rate technology, led them into
> it in the first place. - Douglas Adams in Guardian, 25-Aug-95
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