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Kiteboat: sailing innovation on SF Bay

project.kiteboat.com

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Re: Kiteboat: sailing innovation on SF Bay

#3

Post by junto »

Cool idea. Love the speed.

Back of the napkin calculations with an average 25 knot speed would mean you could cross the Atlantic from Ireland to Newfoundland [1] in about 3 days.

I wonder when Richard Branson will attempt the crossing?

https://www.google.com/search?q=ireland+to+newfoundland+mile...

Re: Kiteboat: sailing innovation on SF Bay

#6

Post by guiporto »

Hacker and kiteboarder here

This kiteboat is very impressive and powerful. The kite area is 25sqm and you have a lot of powerful wind in SF. I kiteboard in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - where the wind is not so strong and my kite area is only 11sqm.

I wonder what were the decisions involved on choosing 80m flying lines (regular kiteboard is 30m) and only 4 lines instead of 5 lines (safer and easier to relaunch)

Re: Kiteboat: sailing innovation on SF Bay

#7

Post by VLM »

Its easy to take a sail above the speed of the wind. Airfoil effect. Did it all the time on iceboats as a kid (sailboat on ice skates, basically). Not sure how or if that applies to a kite. A sail (at least a properly designed one) is not a parachute... it pushes against the keel to go faster than the wind.

I would imagine performance in calm to variable gusty conditions is interesting. Could of course pop a very small mast and sail with that. I've been stuck in the middle of nowhere and no breeze with a conventional sail, so I suppose this isn't any worse other than dunking the kite and tangling the wires.

For long distance sailing I was always hyper paranoid about bigger ships (duh) and a fairly obvious safety feature that wasn't discussed (that I saw) is lifting a simple tinfoil and styrofoam retroreflector up with the kite. I wonder that no one sells small/tiny kites with retroreflectors to cruising sailors.

Re: Kiteboat: sailing innovation on SF Bay

#8

Post by JPKab »

I'm a longtime sailor and did a bit of kiteboarding back in the early 2000's when the kites were a lot less safe than they are now (they automatically dive now when the rider loses control, which I would have loved instead of being dragged onto a beach and into a fisherman's truck)

The amount of power generated is insane, but I would love to see a computer controlled kite instead of relying on a human to keep the kite moving in a way to maximize power. The margin of error can be small there.

Re: Kiteboat: sailing innovation on SF Bay

#9

Post by sailfast »

Once again my two favorite things on the HN front page - technology and sailing.

The combination of kite power and a foiling hull make for crazy speed. 31 knots on a relatively small craft, in 10-18 knots of breeze is incredible, and must be a huge rush to drive.

As a racing sailor, I'd be interested to see how these boats could compete in a fleet race setting, or even a match race / America's Cup style setting. The more of these types of craft I see, the more I am hoping my kids will be sailing cheap foiling kite dinghies at 20 knots in the next 5 years. Exciting stuff!

Re: Kiteboat: sailing innovation on SF Bay

#10

Post by hamiltonkibbe »

guiporto wrote: post #6

Hacker and kiteboarder here This kiteboat is very impressive and powerful. The kite area is 25sqm and you have a lot of powerful wind in SF. I kiteboard in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - where the wind is not so strong and my kite area is only 11sqm. I wonder what were the decisions involved on choosing 80m flying lines (regular kiteboard is 30m) and only 4 lines instead of 5 lines (safer and easier to relaunch)

Me too. I'm guessing that 80m is for more altitude and better wind. There are plenty of safe 4-line systems, you can always flag the kite on a single front line. Maybe they're Cabrinha fans? I wonder how this would do with a 25m foil kite instead of an LEI. 11m is my go-to most of the summer here in Boston
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