:captain: OK. Team.:biglaugh:
[SIZE=2]I thought it was about time I put my money where my mouth is and set some benchmark speeds for others to better.
Last Monday was New Zealands National Day holiday so a few of us went for a sail.
After the fun racing, a speed course was devised to try and find just how fast these toy yachts really go.
The course was 75 metres long ( approx) the wind was blowing 16-18 knots with gusts to 24 knots. The course was a broard reach, timed with a stopwatch by eye.
No claims are made as to total accuracy, simply suggestions as to the approximate speed as a guide to what we can expect from standard boats of each class.
The two boats involved were an AC15 flying a “C” rig, owned by Colin Anderson and myself with a Vickers V5 IOM. with “B” rig.
The best runs were AC15 24.69sec, IOM 30.46sec.
These roughly convert to 3 metres per second, 10.8 kilometres per hour, 5.83 knots for the AC15.
2.5 m/sec, 9 kph, 4.86 knots for the IOM.
There is a posting of a previous run with an AC15 by the guys at “Linton Sails” some time last year, where they strapped an IOM keel accross the deck of the 15 to get some righting moment and they achieved a higher speed.
I will do some research and find that speed to post here as a benchmark.
Well that is your challange now, stick it up the KIWI`s, cmon, have a go.:boxing:
Tomo, The runs are one way only as per the full size.
They are the average over the full course.
With a GPS instrument we could find the maximum speed atained during the run which would of course be higher. :heks:
If you are serious about speed runs then you need to get rid of that lump of lead hanging under the hull.
Yes,[SIZE=2] I really hope he will join the [SIZE=4]Quest for Speed,[SIZE=2][COLOR=Black] when his water becomes liquid again.
I have an idea to use my landyacht frame for a hyrdofoil craft which I will mock up and post a photo here shortly.
Maybe Bill will think of doing something similar. All the ICE sailing guys are used to dealing with speeds we have no experience of.
The forces are much greater than we normally cope with and will require some better engineering than usual.
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any of you blokes come to the U.S., I’ll but you a pint. I even have a spare room, now that my sis is married. Maybe even “pie & chips” whatever that is?
Good on you Ian
I reckon you’ve done exactly what I was originally trying to set out to do. And thanks Wis for putting it up on your site.
Over the next week or so I’ll try to get together with a few IOM and 10 rater guys to see how well we go. I think the 75 metres is a good length as it might be difficult to maintain a high speed for any longer distance.
It’s also pretty interesting about the speeds acheived. I’ve often wondered about the actual speeds IOM’s travel at?
Tony, I would suggest that you could consider a shorter distance for your course length.
My current favourite would be 50 metres.
This would take around 15-20 sec to traverse, which is long enough to be difficult to maintain your speed.
It is not short enough to mean that anyone without some skill and luck, will make a successful run.
I have thought about 25 metres and we may try that distance to see the differences.
As mentioned elsewhere, with the use of a GPS devise it is possible to obtain a reading of the maximum speed atained.
I do not yet know enough about their use to understand how to use them for a timed run.
If anyone out there in the big wide world has some knowledge they would be willing to share then please hop in here and tell us all. :graduate:
Best wishes Tony I am sure you and the lads will have some fun and I know that 10 raters are the formula 1 of the model yacht world and would most probably be the fastest of any of the standard monohull class designs.:spin:
Keep us posted.:splat:
Laurent, Man those French guys are so clever.:king:
What COOL looking boats those 1/10 scale Americas Cup class yachts are.
The foiler is another clever bit of kit. :goldfish:
It uses some of the ideas that I was considering to use on my new speed machine.
Do you have any links to more information?
I have ordered the Garmin Gecko yesterday and will “clock” my boat as soon as the snow melts…April if all goes well, sure I won’t be the fastest, but this “need for speed” has given me a new goal! Sailing alone is dead boring…but this quest for speed has somehow lighten me up…
Ian,
Yes, the idea has crossed my mind a couple times in the past, but I think I would turn it about backwards for more stability on the water. There would be two main floats & a smaller trailing one for steering. But it would be much better if totally redsigned for the purpose. Actually, since I’ve got (2) F48 hulls, I would probably build a twin rig “Team Phillips” concept cat using my wingmast rigs, possibly with movable ballast. One of these days the mood will strike me to dive into that project.
Timed runs thru gates is a good way to go & I agree that a 50m course sounds like good place to start. Gates can take time to set up & need a person at each end to get a decent measurement. Someone mentioned the possibility of setting up a digital video camera that would have very precise timing built in. And then there’s always radar or electronic gates. Sounds like alot of work to me.
For the sake of simplicity, we’ve been using small Garmin Foretrex http://www.garmin.com/products/foretrex101/ units which only weigh 2.6 oz. They can be set to record max speed, average speed, distance. So what would be measured would be peak speed, rather than sustained speed. I suppose the track could be downloaded into a PC to get data for speed over a set course.
Because of their accuracy & ease of use, I think the small GPS is a great way to go.
