A brief tow test today. We mounted a Hemisphere GPS compass on the stern pole in order to compare readings with the Airmar to aid in compass calibration. At the beginning of the test, we towed the boat in two circles at about 5 knots, then towed to Treasure Island to look for wind, where we towed the boat in two 23-knot circles. After finding no wind, we circumnavigated the island and towed in two more 5 knot circles on the way home. Jacques Vincent and Paul Larkin joined us on this test. We again used Paul’s headsets on K2 and the Protector, with mixed results.
Today we took K2 out with the repaired rudder to sail with Jacques Vincent. We kited farther from home than usual, almost to the San Mateo bridge, but we had trouble with the electronic ride height adjustment malfunctioning. We returned to dock by manually adjusting the T-foil ride height, and we will test again tomorrow with Jacques after repairing the electronics. We also used Paul Larkin’s headsets again–one boom mic (Don), two ear mics (Joe and Jacques), and one throat mic (Paul on Protector). Jody Culbert joined us on this test as well.
Today we debuted both the telescoping launch mast and the line angle sensor. Martin Bretschneider joined us again, as did Paul Larkin. Before the kite test, we towed the boat in a large hexagon at about 5 knots. The purpose of this tow test was to record the boat moving in a straight line at six different headings, in another attempt to verify that the compass is working correctly. We are still not satisfied with our measurement of the true wind angle, as the numbers we’ve generated don’t match up with with geometry of the gps track. After the tow test, we put up the kite for some more downwind sailing practice. We were able to launch with the new mast […more]
