the ultimate pool. . .
I have thinking about this one over the past couple years. and here is what I have come to. I am predicating this on being a complex designed with the sole intent of model sailing and that I had the millions to build it.
Size of the sialing area would be 50 meters by 25 meters.
Depth would be constant all over. The nominal depth would be adjustable across a range of 0" to 5 feet deep. Targeted at boats approximately 1 meter in length. The water depth would be adjustable through a rising/falling floor. similar to some of the olympic pools.
Primary course would ALWAYS be winward leward. Above the start/leward mark would be a judges podium suspended above the line. ONLY the ref can stand here to judge starts and roundings completely unobstructed.
Above the windward mark would be a similar podium for the ref only to call penalties.
At each podium would be a high res video camera both recording the area and broadcasting to two independant jumbotron monitors. on the opposite wall. Good action and as an aid to compititors for rounding.
Along the long dimension of the pool would be atleast 8 levels of walk ways (with railings) for the competitors to walk along. Each level would have 2 recessed sets of tracks. In these tracks would be chairs for “differently abled sailors.” The chairs would be wired to work on a free channel of that sailors radio. This way, without taking their hands off their remote, they could move freely up and down the length of the arena.
The facility would be built with RF integrity in mind. In the sailing arena, no radio signals would be able to come in from outside. Internally, I would comission the design of custom sets of transmitters and recievers designed to gaurentee NO interference between competitors signals. These would probably violate FCC band limits, but inside our RF cage, it wouldnt matter.
WIND . . . I havent even gotten to wind! On the roof of the pool would be atleast 20 3 foot diameter ducted fans. They would be set in 3 foot diameter tubes that ran the full length of the pool. The fans would be located close to the low pressure (leeward) end of the pool. This would give the swirling air 50 yards to “loose its swirl.” On the high pressure side of the pool (windward) they would come down and exit through diffusers designed to normalize the air flow. Each fan would be wired into a controller and linked to one controlling computer. This computer would take several inputs and through the use of a computer model and random number generator, control the fans independantly to change wind speed and introduce global puffs, global lulls, local puffs, local lulls, and wind shifts. The user interface would allow the RD to set the conditions including the intensity and variability of the wind. For instance, they could dial in high winds with no variabiliby. The wind would be strong, but of constant force and directions. They could dial in high winds with lulls, but no shifts. Constant wind pressure with shifts. . . yada yada yada. You get the idea.
The roof would be constructed of a smart glass that with electrical current could transition from transparent to opaque depending on what you wanted that day. The parimeter of the pool would have lifting glass doors that would allow you open to the outdoors if you wanted to use “natural” wind.
Other uses, drop the floor to 5 feet deep, you can still hold swimming competitions in it. Adjust to 2 feet, kiddie pool. Need a good teaching platform, put it wherever you want.
Training facility for optis and prams. At our Yacht club. . . kids learn how to capsize and right an opti in the safety of the pool first. My brother and I would always race the opti’s in a 25 yard pool immediately following. Heck, in a 50 meter pool, you could teach opti sailing, and even match race optis!
Hows that for dreaming big?
-Todd
