from sailing anarchy

Translated via our forums: The Hydroptère has reached a speed of 61 knots spectacular peak this morning during his first run. Wind conditions were very tough, 35-38 knots of wind gusts and established more than 45. The water was not as flat as day prédédent, making navigation difficult and dangerous. The burst, which led to this extraordinary speed, unfortunately entaîné the capsizing of the Hydroptère.

"The gale was very violent, the Hydroptère was full accéléraltion to more than 61 knots when it crashed and then capsized," says Alain Thébault briefly while organizing towing the boat with his teammates. All are doing with minor injuries. The trimaran will be towed to Fos on Wednesday, as soon as conditions permit. Join the thread. Photo Gilles Martin-Raget / Hydroptere.

12/21/08

they did 55knots over 500m

It's only when these things are upside down that we get a good look at the underside secrets. Look at the angle of the foils. Just one foil at the right angle to support lateral and gravitational forces simultaneously. I'd bet they were flying the windward foil when they hit 61 knots.

sailquik said...

How did they measure that speed? Was it for a fraction of a second or longer? Where is reference to their 500m speed?
Extraordinary claims that demand a bit more substance to verify them.

www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2008/12/21/01011-20081221FILWWW00059-l-hydroptere-a-chavire-a-noeuds.php


use google translate

If the wording is that it was an attempt on the record, then I wonder why it is worded "would have been a record". Perhaps they lost the orange used to record the current

Apparently, the french navy is using sonar and special buoys to work out the 'current' component!

we have a French guy in our office at the moment and I showed him the clip. Essentially the guy is talking a lot of technical jargon which my mate had no idea what it was about. Bottom line though, the guy says they smashed 100kmh and then something made the boat flip over and they aren't sure what it was yet.

That is completely nuts!!
We are living in truly exciting times.There are people really pushing the limits like no other time in history.
R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

sick_em_rex said...

Bottom line though, the guy says they smashed 100kmh and then something made the boat flip over and they aren't sure what it was yet.

Probably hit a kiter

Anders Bringdal was on board at the time of the crash. Apparantly he has been helping with sail tuning.

Here is what he said ..

"On Sunday we had something quite extreme. We launched the boat in proper conditions with 35 knots of wind and during the run, the wind rose strongly ... We were around 55 knots when the big increase arrived, the boat then apparently accelerated violently to 61 knots!
During that gust, the boat began to insert the nose and, because of the strength to listen, we have failed to react fairly quickly. A force hitting the water, the boat was almost arrested on net and capsized 3 seconds later ... We all have bruises everywhere but everyone is fine, except the mast of the Hydrofoil which did not resist!
Personally, I have never experienced a similar planing and I am sure that this boat is capable of making a run of 500 meters at more than 55 or 60 knots! This is only a matter of settings in the crew because the forces, effort and precision that the high speed application, no one had lived until now ...
The thing that makes me sad is that the record of "missed speedloop" costs much more than a full run rake in windsurfing!
For me, this is a crazy experience and is a true honor to be able to sail with such great sailors! And even today I still can not believe that we have managed to sail more than 112 km/h on water! That is a totally crasy! "

Source: Anders Bringdal and Google from french to english