A nice test today with the 40 sqm kite and some weird wind. The wind was starting and stopping a lot, but we had some help from an ebb tide and were able to get the boat foiling at top speed of 27 knots with four people on board. The larger kite worked well, but the loads pulled it into a pretty pronounced U-shape. We were joined on this test by Jos Cocquyt.
Great test today with the new chair. We repaired the damage from yesterday and took the boat out this afternoon in steady serviceable wind. We had a nice 25-knot run toward the 3rd Ave bridge, and were able to cut back upwind at 20 knots. The weather and lighting conditions were great. Video clip shows the fastest run.
We took K2 out today to tow around the protected area off Alameda Point, using the new T-foil. We are in the process of constructing a mold to make a new T-foil from scratch, and we modified an old foil to test out some ideas and help us refine the design. This modified foil is much narrower overall–it is not tapered like our current T-foil, and it has a different airfoil shape. It is intended to optimize lift at lower speeds, but it will have more drag at higher speeds. After the tow test, we replaced the foil with our standby foil and went out for a kite test of the repaired chair and new winch setup.
Today we towed K2 to the St. Francis Yacht Club in case the wind was favorable for a boat test with the CNN crew. The eventual wind proved to be very gusty, and we left the boat at the dock, but Don kitesurfed with Johnny and Erika Heineken and Chip Wasson, and some of Johnny’s other friends. The CNN crew filmed from a RIB off Crissy Field. (Don has a red kite with a pink stripe; Johnny and Erika have yellow kites; Chip has a blue kite.)
Yesterday three journalists from the CNN International program Mainsail arrived to film us and others in the Bay Area for their segment on kite power. Don and Dudu and Johnny Heineken met up with them last night, and this afternoon they arrived in the shop to interview Don. We took them out on the water with K2, so Shirley Robertson, the show presenter and a two-time Olympic gold-medalist in sailing, could helm the kiteboat. The wind was unusually strong and very gusty by Treasure Island, so after a few attempts there with smaller kites, we packed up and moved to the center of the bay, between Hunters Point and Alameda. The wind there was much more manageable, but not quite […more]
