heavym210

Yep, I doubt the team has the wherewithal to put in the time it takes to make multiple testing trips and complete incremental vehicle rebuilds. My guess for a top speed of this vehicle will be 105 mph. I may be wrong but at a first glance so does this gigantic land sailor.

The kiwi boat looks like it has quite a bit more frontal area vs the green bird, and we know that is slow. Also more side area to be blown off its track. I wonder if the kiwis visited the salt and did a traction comparison vs the dirt that Greenbird sailed on? The salt at speed is quite slippery.

The vehicle looks heavy, i don't think they will break the record easily. Is the team planning on just one trip or are they committed to a development cycle with multiple trips back the the lakebed?

I’ve bought iron wood from this outfit, the owner was a nice dude. He knows exotics so might be a good resource. https://arizonaironwood.com/

The first bit of engineering in this entire project!

Notice the amount of heel when they lift one end of the sail up with a crane? Doug may have a Vasa on his hands.

I know a guy that worked in a Amazon warehouse for a bit, mentioned the place was a shithole. He was not allowed to clock in for the first several hours on the job as it was considered unpaid training. I bet that will be changing in a unionized warehouse. Or Bezos will just close the warehouse and move it.

Interesting, perhaps a carrier landing proof swing wing mechanism was tough to get get right. I think the avionics were quite advanced as I recall.

Is Lindsey Grahm an idiot? His questions of religious faith are dumb, “can you judge a Catholic” dude, this isn’t 1950

Trump will be along shortly saying the Biden’s set those labs up.

I would have tried to get out of there with the 5 that were left.

It’s day break in Ukraine, let’s think about the citizens and solders pushing back the Russian hoard back to the shit hole they came from.

Yes, its parasitic drag. Rigging is also huge loss hence the non stayed wing. Your efficiency drops off as the wind and boat speed increase.

Ha, good catch. I like fast racing as do most iceboaters, so yes I do like speed while racing other boats. Going 80 is fun, its more fun in a port starboard situation. We as a group have not really spent a lot of effort on absolute speed records or being the worlds fastest sailor. Why didn’t Team NZ decide to build a land sailing yacht built to an existing rule and course race in the desert? The Land sailing fleets are mostly development classes. They could be course racing vs straight line speed. The trickle down would be interesting.

Looks like a copy of Jenkins boat. They couldn’t come up with anything else? I am not impressed, why not build an iceboat and course race with the garage builders in the US? We race windward leeward on the ice and don’t really give a shit about absolute speed. This is a neat distraction from the venue decision.