Don and Joe put a 4 hp motor on the Kitefoiler this evening in order to test without towing the boat to and from the dock. Dudu followed on the Protector. Despite the late hour, the wind was good, and they were very pleased with the boat’s performance.
Here are 2 interesting videos from Bob Dill, who came with us on the 110 sqm kite test aboard Cheyenne.
The first video is the water launch. With Joe and Roland in the water, trying to hold and position the kite, it shows the perspective of just how big the kite is.
The second video is what happened as soon as the kite became overloaded. The surface ‘balloons’ due to the skin loading, which leads to the tips buckling. This then in turn puts a large pitching moment into the foil, which pushes the leading edge of the tips in, and tries to collapse the kite.
For each boat test, we mount several cameras on the kite, kite lines, and boat in order to have a visual record of performance. Don is always experimenting with new camera technology, but currently we are using almost entirely GoPro HD HEROs for the video footage. For stills, we use the older GoPro HEROs and Pentax Optio W60s. The HD GoPros are capable of taking very high quality footage and have a nifty wide-angle lens. Unfortunately, that lens means that they aren’t the best kitecams. The W60s are still a good option for the kite, but their video quality is noticeably lower.
As you can see in photos, the GoPros are not waterproof; they are housed in little waterproof cases […more]
Don Montague and Joe Brock Jumping waves in Maui on the kiting Trifoiler! 16 sqm kite.
Helicopter footage by Darrell Wong and Roland Chen. Boat and kite cameras by Don and Joe. Helicopter Pilot: Don Shear. Video edit by Andrea Dunlap. Music by Yung Sir.
This was the first movie created to simulate kite-assisted power generation. The boat model was based off of 2D drawings from YCO and group. The model was made from a solid in SolidWorks and the animation was made in 3D Studio by Victor.