VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

New world records for both men and women at the speed trench; try your French out, even I could read (almost all) this!:

Incroyable, exceptionnel, historique, les superlatifs ne manqueront pas pour qualifier ce dimanche 10 avril !!! Dans la matinée, Karin Jaggi bat le record féminin de vitesse vieux de 12 ans avec 41,24 nœuds !!! Quelques heures plus tard, c’est Finian Maynard qui fait voler en éclats son propre record (46,82 nœuds) avec 48,70 nœuds !!!

48.7 knots, isn't that nearly 90 kmph? I'm still trying to beat 50km. 50 knots is very very close....

check out http://www.MastersOfSpeed.com

You can do it MF4!! Just strap on a 5.5 and hit the water the next time it's blowing 50 knots

Great post

1 knot = 1.852 kilometers

After a catapult at that speed, one sure would bounce on top of the water.


Turtle

Turtle, that makes it over 90. Check the video clips on mastersofspeed. Looks like the crashes start with massive tailwalks then spray and cartwheeling boards/rigs. Ouch!

I read that they didn't cary GPS on these runs, so they don't know for sure that the magic 50 kts was broken in bursts (though it almost had to have been to get that high an average over 500 m). If the math in my head is right, at that speed it would take 40 seconds to cross Nitinat Lake from launch beach to old log dump.

Imagine how fast those folks could go under a kite! It sure is nice to see a simple craft like a w-surfer set a speed record !!!

I was going to say 'nah, kites can't go THAT fast. BUt according to
http://www.sailspeedrecords.com/kitesailing.html the kite speed sailing record is up to 41.67 knots - pretty impressive given the short development time for speed gear. I see that the authorities have decreed that kites can't lay claim to the outright sailing speed record, though I don't know why they shouldn't - some of the kite-powered boats at the speed trials are pretty awesome craft but still boats by my definition. Maybe its because there is no technical reason that someone couldn't set it by being lofted in a hurricane - I wonder if there is a requirement to actually be touching the water at some point over the 500 m?

if you got lofted out of the ditch at 40kts you would be in for a world of hurt!

Hey Mr. TURTLE I'd like to point out that

1 knot = 1 nautical mile per hour = 1.852 kilometers per hour

not just kilometers. It funny when you see people that saying "knots per hour" cause that means acceleration, not speed.

...from the Princeton Universtiy dictionary(2003).

5: a unit of length used in navigation; equivalent to the distance spanned by one minute of arc in latitude; 1,852 meters

I believe knot has a few different meanings. I agree I haven't heard of a knot /hour but I believe that is because people just shorten it.

<img src="/http://members.shaw.ca/ilow/gifs/turtle.JPG" border="0">

Just to clarify,

A knot is in fact equal to one nautical mile per hour but this isn't how the term 'Knot ' came about.

The term actually came from a device known as a 'Dutchman's Log' used as recently as the early 17th century. This log was made up of 3 main parts. An hourglass/Wooden quadrant/Knotted line. The wooden quadrant was fastened to a line that had knots tied in it at equal, pre-determined, distances. A sailor would pass the Quadrant over the stern and the hourglass would be turned. The sailor would count the 'Knots' running over the rail till the glass ran out.

Speed=Distance/Time

Tugboaterg

Good answer, Tug - but I think the system was used much more recently than you suggest, well into the 19th century. The US Navy used them and there wasn't such a thing till the 1770s:
from http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae400.cfm

Records from 1917 (Bowditch) indicate that the official U.S. Navy sand glass measured 28 seconds, and that knots were spaced out exactly 48 feet (or 8 fathoms - a popular length unit of that time). With this setup, ship's speed could be measured with an error of about 1.5%. This is speed relative to the water and assuming that the wood panel does not get pulled significantly from the place where it was initially dropped and that the rope does not stretch - all of which actually does happen and should be accounted as sources of error. Not to mention the problem of sea water currents adding or subtracting from the actual ship's speed relative to land

.
If you read Hornblower novels or the knock-offs (mostly set about 1780-1830), they often describe "heaving the log". I think it was shown in the movie made from one of these "Master and Commander", which went to some lengths to be historically accurate for nautical detail, unlike most such movies.

I've heard of yachtsmen making their own (20th century) after their spinning logs were eaten by sharks etc.

Whoever thought of this in the first place was one pretty smart palaeo-geek.

I see the dictionary I used was not very accurate or as informative. Great info dudes!!