foils

K2 test with 30 sqm kite – Oct 25

10/26/11

Boat designer David Alan Williams is here for several days to consult with us on K2 design. Today was the first day of his trip, and we took K2 out for a tow test and to fly the new 30 sqm kite. Ann accompanied him and Don and Joe on the tow test, and David, Joe, and Richard took turns with Don for the kite test. The new kite worked well, as did the boat, although the wind/kite were insufficient for us to foil well. Before the test, Jamie completed the electronic ride-height controls on the tiller so it is now possible to adjust all three foils. We saw Johnny Heineken out on the water.

Kai View Data:
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K2 Tow Test – Oct 26

10/26/11

Yesterday we did a careful tow test of K2, pulling it nearly directly behind the Protector (on a long line to minimize interference from the wake). The kiteboat was towed steadily for one minute at each of a range of speeds. The results are shown in the attached graph.

Kitefoiler Test with Cuben Fiber Kite – Jul 19

7/19/11

Our first test with the Cuben Fiber/Dacron kite. Tons of power–we were very pleased with the stiffness of the kite (Cuben Fiber does not stretch as much as our other fabrics), but we will need to adjust the bridle, because Don was afraid to drop the kite much in front of the boat, for fear of it pulling too much, so foiling time was brief. We used the original J-foils.

Kai View Data:
20110719-kf-cubenKite.kai.bz2

Kitefoiler Test – Jun 21

6/21/11

We took the Kitefoiler out again with the original J-foils, as they’ve proved the most reliable in allowing us to sail upwind. We took out an old kite from 2003 that has a high aspect ratio and a very simple bridle, in order to compare its performance to our newer kites. The wind proved light, so we did not sail quickly enough to get the boat on the foils. We did, however, verify that the simple bridle on the kite was much easier to handle on the launching mast than the more complicated ones. Also, we realized that the launching mast needs to be expandable, in order to be made taller for larger or higher-aspect-ratio kites.
Additionally, Don and […more]

Kitefoiler Test with J-foils – Jun 15

6/15/11

We tested the Kitefoiler using the original Trifoiler J-foils with the Kitefoiler extensions. We used the Tom Speer-designed T-foil rudder.

The wind was light. We used the electric winch handle to successfully winch the kite back to the boat.

Dual bar setup. Launch bar and flying bar.

Don tried out our new Zeal goggles that were equipped with GPS (https://www.zealoptics.com/transcend/). He and Jamie purchased the goggles to play with the sensor inside and to see if they could modify the display. The goggles are designed to display speed information inside the eye view space. Don found that the display was not in quite the right place. Modification will begin when Jamie is back from vacation.

Kai View […more]

Kitefoiler test with J-foils – April 12

4/12/11

We tested the new J-foils on the Kitefoiler for the first time today. While towing the boat out, the Protector needed to be going about 20 knots in order for the Kitefoiler to start foiling, which is a much higher number than either the old J-foils (15-16 knots), or the T-foils (12-13 knots). While sailing with the kite up, it was hard to keep the boat on the foils. This poor performance was partly due to very choppy conditions and a lot of swells knocking the boat off course. We used the new 25 sqm kite with the Dacron trailing edge.

Kai View Data:
20110412-kf-towAnd25m.kai.bz2