Windsurfing, then Kiting and now Wing-foils
Jun 15, 2020 11:54:34 #
blacks2 wrote:
Excellent. 
Thank you for the nice comment blacks2. You should come over to Crissy with your camera . . . it would be great to have a real photograph take some photos.
Jun 15, 2020 11:57:11 #
Nalu wrote:
That looks like a blast.
Thanks Nalu. I think you're right. The sport is converting a lot of surfers, windsurfers and kiters.
Jun 15, 2020 16:37:55 #
Jun 15, 2020 17:51:05 #
Kites will always be faster simply because the wind speed increases with distance from a boundary. These wings are nice, though, because there isn't a lot of string to deal with, tangle, or snag on someone's mast.
Jun 15, 2020 21:07:01 #
JeffDavidson wrote:
Nice action shots.
Thanks Jeff, couple were a little blurry. they got a little farther away.
Jun 15, 2020 21:11:56 #
OhD wrote:
Kites will always be faster simply because the wind speed increases with distance from a boundary. These wings are nice, though, because there isn't a lot of string to deal with, tangle, or snag on someone's mast.
Thanks OhD but I don't know what 'distance from a boundry' means. The kites sizes are twice as big as the wing and the drag of the foil is about the same size so wing speeds would always be lower than a Kite speed. There's a few more variables to consider also.
Jun 15, 2020 22:03:44 #
Jun 16, 2020 00:25:47 #
Rich475 wrote:
Thanks OhD but I don't know what 'distance from a boundry' means. The kites sizes are twice as big as the wing and the drag of the foil is about the same size so wing speeds would always be lower than a Kite speed. There's a few more variables to consider also.
Rich
In any fluid flow (air over water in this case), the friction at the boundary between the two causes the air to slow down and the water to get dragged along by the air (relatively slowly, but it can keep building to a storm surge). The further away from the water surface (up) the less the air is slowed, so the wind just tens of feet up is faster than the wind right at the water. "Boundary " in fluid mechanics refers to any interface between a fluid or gas, fluid and solid or gas and solid (the ground, pipe or canal walls, wings or foils, etc), or even between two streams of gas or fluid (look up Kelvin-Helmholz clouds). You are correct that the smaller area of the wing is also a factor
Jun 16, 2020 00:26:18 #
Jun 16, 2020 10:10:15 #
Jun 16, 2020 10:46:31 #
John from gpwmi wrote:
Great capture of the action!
Thanks for the comment, John
Jun 16, 2020 10:53:45 #
OhD wrote:
Rich br In any fluid flow (air over water in this ... (show quote)
Thanks for the great explanation OhD. From that explanation, I would say you had to be a 'fluid mechanics' engineer . . . sure makes sense. Here's a photo of the kite World Championships in SF last year. Do you think all those kites up there make a new boundry layer?
Rich
Jun 16, 2020 10:58:06 #
Moondoggie wrote:
Terrific series.
Thanks Moondoggie. I'm sure this will get very popular down your way because they don't require as much wind as windsurfers or kites.
Jun 19, 2020 13:58:58 #
Jun 19, 2020 13:59:14 #
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