Team Seacats

These guys are on fire! Be sure to keep tabs on them as they are just getting the hulls into the paint booth but expect to be doing a test sail this Sunday!

What is with that shirt?

A team of creative sailors at NC state are constructing a sailing craft on which they will compete in the Watertribe Everglades Challenge.  The call themselves RAF (I’ll let you investigate why on their site).  Strangely enough, I learned of this effort from the front page of Sailing Anarchy this morning.  I say strangely enough, because I was hanging out with one the team members, Alan Stewart (Team Velocity Sailing), during some of the Tradewinds regatta in the Keys and he didn’t mention a word of it.  My hurt feelings aside, it looks like it’s sure to be an interesting project and a very entertaining and fun challenge to actually sail/race over some rough terrain on a vessel they’ve built themselves.  Be sure to check them out at the Sailing Adventures of Team RAF!

I got the first three coats of color on the bottom of the hull tonight. A little 320 grit wetsanding of the primer and it was ready to go. I’m very pleased with the results, she’s incredibly fair and even side to side. A few of you are probably wondering why I choose blue…First, I needed a dark color that contrasts well with orange – since that’s the color of the gelcoat that will first be sprayed on the plug and eventually form the outer shell of the mold. I started to paint it black, but the second thing I needed, was a color that I could still mark on lightly with a fine sharpie. I have to make a parting board to go around the model in order to separate the two mold halves and I need to make a few little marks so I can be sure to get the parting board as level and even as possible. If I had painted it black, it would have been difficult to mark it without marring the finish. (thinking about it again, I probably should make the parting board before I apply the final finish on the plug).

I’ll get up a little early in the morning to heat up the shop, flip the hull over, and set it in the cradles so I can paint the topsides. It should cure enough to wetsand again by the time I get home from work in the evening. Then I’ll mark some key components on the hull with small vinyl tape and dots (mast position, cockpit cutout marks, shroud mounting points, keel hole reference, rudder post reference, etc.). Then a clear coat will go on followed by some very fine wetsanding and buffing. I’m hoping to get the final finish done by this weekend so I can start on the parting board Saturday morning.

Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.

The foil born trimaran, Hydroptere (which means “marine wing” in Greek) breaks 45 knots over a 500 meter course according to their own team’s measurement system.  They also set some sort of record for a nautical mile but they didn’t specify any details.  They’re obviously hungry for the outright sailing speed record of 48.7 knots over 500 meters as set by Finian Maynard on a sailboard in a purposely built trench in France.  The Hydroptere team reports to have stepped up their training program to do so.  Note however, for a real ratified record, they’ll have to perform the feat according to the rules set forth by the WSSRC.

As far as speed demons go in this sport, Hydroptere is a bit unique.  Unlike most in her class, not only can she handle real ocean waves, she’s been around for a long while and she’s been slowly pushed and slowly improved over the course of many years.  I only recall them having a few setbacks – one of them when they collided with something under the water while attempting a distance race.  Hydroptere has two large tapered foils that extend down from each outer ama and allow the hulls of the boat to become completely airborn at speed thereby largely reducing drag and greatly increasing the speed potential of the boat.  Many problems face foiling boats.  The largest of which are balance of the unpredictable sailpower loads, waves, and potential for cavitation of the foils at high speeds (the foil immediately looses lift when this happens!).  In this case, because of the tapered construction, as the foils lift higher and higher out of the water, less of the foil is actually providing lift.  However, more foil in the water provides more stability but also gives more drag so the secret to success is to figure out how to balance the lift vs. drag and still be able to control the thing.  They’ve worked out a solution where they can change this balance point by changing the angle of the foil from it’s hinge point on the ama.  Apparently it works.

Read more at http://www.hydroptere.com and watch a video HERE.  Thanks to our Australian friend, Stephen Medwell, for pointing this feat out over at Catsailor.