An interesting look into speed racing with sails. Larson is living in the UK, but they race in Namibia in Walvis Bay which is the salt flats of speed sailing. Larson bases his design on an old design of an American rocket engineer Bernard Smith. Most sail boats are planted in the water and reach up to grab the air. Smith designed a plane to reach down and grab the water. Larson has had some breakthroughs in designing keels that avoid cavitation. When the boat is in the water it is slow. as it speeds up the keels actually shed drag and speeds up considerably. Something we would all like to do with air!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pipGWQmerEQ
David
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pipGWQmerEQ
David
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