I hope it doesn’t appear that I’m hogging the Gallery, but since very few others are, I figured “what the heck?” The French are seriously into this hobby. This event at Fort Mahon
in September & attracted competitors ranging from 7 to 82 years old. Even if you can’t understand the text, check out the amazing pictures;
http://www.rc-bot.com/index.php?page=charavoile&part=22092007
I wonder if a spoiler would work on those
-to keep the windward wheel down
Good question. Actually it’s been tried in both full sized & models, but has never seemed to really catch on, so I must conclude that it wasn’t all that effective. The big boats have devised other methods to resist capsize (flexing masts & platforms to resist gusts, plus ballast). The models don’t get going fast enough (20-30 mph typ) to generate the amount of down-lift needed to effectively resist tipping moment. Plus, any spoiler will need to generate some drag in the process of producing down force.
Sorry if you already saw this in the classified section, but here it is again.
Here’s a recent video done by Samuel Tranchet in France. His Class 1 “G-Lule”
really gets up & goes, but yet appears to be very stable. I think the flex of the unstayed mast helps keep it upright:
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=PObP4zQCiI8
And here’s my latest video effort. Samuel’s excellent job of camerawork & editing makes it painfully apparant that I need to upgrade my video skills:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvjtVC63nGc