News

Kiteboat kite with ribs

12/19/11
Bottom skin

Dudu and Don are working on a new kiteboat kite design that will feature a single leading edge with a partial lower skin to fair the entry. Plastic ribs, location at the stations where there is no strut to connect the top and bottom skins, will keep the geometry stable.

Shown in the photos is a sample section of this design. The tip sections on a whole kite will be held taut by the leading edge–the final shape should resemble the shape in the photos where Dudu holds the kite, and not the shape shown at the bottom. Black airfoil shape is a plastic rib–there are three in this sample section. Photo of Dudu holding the kite cross-wise shows the […more]

K2 tow test – Dec 14

12/14/11

We tow-tested K2 today to show Jim Antrim, a naval architect and our newest consultant, around the platform. We towed out to Treasure Island and inflated the 30 sqm high aspect ratio kite to demonstrate how the mast worked. Jamie rode on K2 for the first time, in order to operate his new logging equipment.

K2 tow test – Nov 22

11/22/11

Today we towed K2 around the bay to test new logger updates. We hoped also to try our new 50 sqm high-aspect-ratio kite, but the wind was too low. Damon’s father-in-law joined us on the Protector. Joe and Vincent also tried out brand-new drysuits, and Gabe’s father visited the shop.

from Jamie:
For the first time on K2, we are now recording the kitearm angle and the rudder pitch angle. We are particularly interested in relating the rudder pitch to the boat speed, since this is an important manual adjustment that could be automated in the future. Currently, the helmsman must adjust the pitch of the rudder to keep the boat level as the boat speed changes. An example […more]

New 50 sqm kite

11/21/11

We received our new 40 sqm and 50 sqm high-aspect-ratio kites from China. Today Don and Joe set up the 50 sqm in the shop. We hope to test it tomorrow on K2 if the wind is strong enough.

Kite Inflation Maintenance System

11/15/11

Jamie has augmented our kite inflation controller, which monitors a kite’s inflation levels and maintains a designated psi by inflating the kite further, in case of a leak or temperature change, for example. The new electronics add precise pressure measurement, a radio link to the ground, and remote pressure control. In the photos, the system is inflating a kite section to 8 psi. Our smaller kites take higher inflation pressures, up to 9 psi, whereas the larger kites take lower pressures, 2-3 psi. This system is splashproof, but not waterproof, which is sufficient now that our launch and retrieval procedures largely keep the kite out of the water.

The graph shows the pressure as the small kite section is inflated […more]

K2 test with 30 sqm kite – Nov 4

11/4/11

A short test today, our first with the new kitearm. Not a lot of wind, but we did get up on foils and get some pull on the kitearm, which worked well under those conditions. We tested the kitearm in the shop prior to taking it out (see previous post) to ensure that there was no danger of it breaking under high kite loads.

Kai View Data:
20111104-k2-30m-kiteArm.kai.bz2

K2 test no mast – Oct 26

10/27/11

We went out a second time with the 30 sqm kite and boat designer David Alan Williams. For the first time, we removed the launching mast before sailing to reduce wind drag. We’re now discussing ways to eliminate using the mast altogether.
We again ran into Johnny on the water. Two of Richard’s friends joined us for the test. Prior to using the kite, we towed the boat (see previous post by Jamie). Thanks Dudu for taking photos!

Kai View Data:
20111026-k2-30m.kai.bz2