Veal Heel on a C Class Cat.

Rohan's Blog has an interesting item about a foiling C Class Cat. It thing looks amazing but this picture clearly show a very basic design problem (in my opinion...)



With a cat like this one copying the Moth configuration will not work because the more windward heel you have the less righting moment. What they should do is try to turn off the windward foil. Then they can crank in the powerful solid sail they have. Maybe this is what they are doing but the speed data on Rohan's blog would not suggest this.

Veal Heel works great on a Moth because the more you heel them to windward the more righting moment you get. This has always been the case with moths since they got narrow with wings. (http://www.culnane.net/dc/sailing/moth/wshpaper/transver.htm). With hydro foils you can also use the lift of the main foil to help you get height to windward. Leeward heel on a foiling Moth is about as good a trawling a bucket upwind.



With the next generation of Moths we should also try to increase the instability of the system so that the more you heel the more unstable. This may not make sense but when you travel fast you have lots of dynamic stability so you can control the thing. Instability generates righting moment, which can equate to more power.

IMCA website developments.

It has taken me a long time but I have finally moved the IMCA site to the new Java enabled host. This allows me to run the software we are developing that will (hopefully) assist in the administration of the IMCA.

The software is being developed using the SourceForge infrastructure and there is a project website at: http://imca.sourceforge.net/ this makes it easy for others to get involved in the project.



The lines of code are increasing as well as the functionality. At this stage I can import most of the data from the existing XML based website and users can log in, retrieve a reset password and edit their contact data. The next stage is the join the IMCA use case to allow registered users to login and renew their subscriptions.

Touched in Munich.

We went to Munich last weekend for a Touch Rugby tournament. It was get fun and Vienna did well coming 5 out of 8 teams, in our first tournament, Some Vienna players also helped Köln come 3rd by making up there team numbers. Köln even get gave the 3rd place trophy to the Vienna guys that had helped them which was a very nice recognition of there work.

Luckily someone had a camera during a moment of Doug Culnane Ego glory. I can not let that go un-blogged so here is it for you all to enjoy.

Maverick crashes and burns.

Give Me Five.

This is where it is at.