We took K2 out today to test a new front line system that hides the tackle under the chair, one line to each side, instead of putting it all out in front of the chair. We also weighed the boat pre-test and post-test: dry weight was 1130 lbs and wet weight was 1155. Both numbers include kite and drysuits.
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.
Don and the Kiteboat Project were featured on the sailing program “Mainsail” on CNN International that aired today. Host Shirley Robertson and crew visited San Francisco for a week in May, and they joined us for two kiteboat tests. They also filmed Don kitesurfing with Johnny Heineken, who is featured in this episode as well. The episode appears in three parts on the Mainsail site: “Kiteboarding: Birth of a New Sport,” “Kiteboarding’s Healthy Rivalry,” and “Fastest Man on the Water.” We’re primarily in the third segment.
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.
