l’Hydroptère
Article:
Last season the carbon trimaran broke two world speed records. l’Hydroptère broke a first record over 500 meters at an average speed of 44.81 knots. The second world sailing record was one over one nautical mile, this run made her the fastest craft in the one mile.
After this triumph, the team decided to temporarily set aside open sea trials in order to concentrate on breaking the mythical speed barrier of 50 knots. Thus, 2008 will be devoted to pure speed. l’Hydroptère is now specialized.
In order to accomplish this, studies and trials have been carried out by their team of engineers, in collaboration with the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. The rigging, the platform and the external parts have been finely modified to bring the boat’s speed potential over 50 knots.
The next few days will be devoted to a series of tests on the new rigging and sails, and on the new textile streamlining, which has recently been installed. L’Hydroptère will then be convoyed to Lorient, where she will be transported by cargo ship to the Mediterranean.
After a final phase of assembly in Marseille, l’Hydroptère will be able to tackle her goal for 2008 – to become the fastest sailing craft on the planet.
Review:
This is a truly beautiful and remarkable in its technology both in the design and in materials. The average speed alone of 44.81knots or 83 km's per hour is phenomenally fast gliding metres above the choppy surface of the water reducing the lag to next to nothing. The hydrofoil is super thin and joined to all keels of the yacht giving the shape added lateral resistance while not producing skin friction. And its wide platform provides excellent leverage to carry an oversize rig. Also note how fragile it appears, don't be fooled! carbon fibre and honeycomb kevlar is extremely strong for it weight. Gliding above the sea at 25.7 metres per second can cover 2220 km's/day, making a trip to Tahiti pleasure all the way!
More news and videos about Hydroptere and other fast sailboats:
- Video - l'Hydroptere Fastest Sailing Yacht in the World
- Holy l'Hydroptere! Sailing Over 60 knots then Turtled
- Extreme Sailing - The Speed Barrier is Broken
- Sailing Photo of the Week - l’Hydroptère Flying all Hulls
- World's Largest Racing Trimaran Sailing in France - Banque Populaire V
- New Racing Trimarans - The Big and the Beautiful
- SailRocket - The Fastest Sailboat in the World
- The World's Fastest Sailboats - Sailing for Speed Freaks!
- Sailing Video of the Week - Vestas SailRocket Crash!
- Sailing Records (all articles about sailing records)
No comments:
Post a Comment