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Vestas Sailrocket
The ''Vestas Sailrocket'' was built to capture the sailing speed record competing in the B-class for 150 to 235 square feet of sail. It is piloted by the project leader Paul Larsen and sponsored by Danish wind turbines manufacturer Vestas. In 2008 the first version reached a reported unofficial speed of , before crashing. After being upgraded to a second version, the ''Vestas Sailrocket 2'' began a campaign to break speed records in November 2012 off Walvis Bay, Namibia. On 12 November, it made a run over a distance, then on the 16th. It attained on a one-mile run on the 18th and simultaneously on 500m. On 24 November, with wind speeds at roughly , it ran the 500m course at with a peak. Both records are ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) for the 500m and the mile. A Swiss team of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne university students and engineers, including members involved in the development of previous record-holder ''Hydroptère'', form ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Larsen
Paul Larsen (born 16 January 1970) is an Australian sailor who has been involved in many extreme sailing projects. He led the 10-year project for the Vestas Sailrocket, which set new nautical mile and 500m world speed sailing records in 2012. He credits Pete Goss as the person who had the greatest impact on his sailing career, and his sailing hero. Paul Larsen was part of Tim Jarvis's six-man crew that in 2013 successfully recreated Ernst Shackleton's famous journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia in the James Caird, a 22.5-foot lifeboat. Larsen successfully navigated the replica vessel, the Alexandra Shackleton, from Elephant Island to South Georgia using the same navigational instruments and methods that Frank Worsley, Shackleton's navigator on the James Caird, would have used. Additionally, after arriving at South Georgia, Larsen, along with Baz Gray, was part of Jarvis's three-man team that traversed the glaciers of South Georgie from King Haakon Bay to the now-aban ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wind Turbines
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. Wind turbines are an increasingly important source of intermittent renewable energy, and are used in many countries to lower energy costs and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. One study claimed that, wind had the "lowest relative greenhouse gas emissions, the least water consumption demands and the most favorable social impacts" compared to photovoltaic, hydro, geothermal, coal and gas energy sources. Smaller wind turbines are used for applications such as battery charging for auxiliary power for boats or caravans, and to power traffic warning signs. Larger turbines can contribute to a domestic power supply while selling unused power back to the utility supplier via the electrical grid. Wind turbines are manufactured in a wide range ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vestas
Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines that was founded in 1945. The company operates manufacturing plants in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Italy, Romania, the United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Australia, China, Brazil, Poland and the United States, and employs more than 25,000 people globally. , it is the largest wind turbine company in the world. Operations Vestas has installed over 66,000 wind turbines for a capacity of 100 GW in over 80 countries on five continents. the company has built production facilities in more than 12 countries, among them China, Spain and the United States.Wind as a modern energy source: the Vestas view (PDF). Vestas employs 29,000 people. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The city covers a total area of of land. The bay is a safe haven for sea vessels because of its natural deepwater harbour, protected by the Pelican Point sand spit, being the only natural harbour of any size along the country's coast. Being rich in plankton and marine life, these waters also drew large numbers of southern right whales, attracting whalers and fishing vessels. A succession of colonists developed the location and resources of this strategic harbour settlement. The harbour's value in relation to the sea route around the Cape of Good Hope had caught the attention of world powers since it was discovered by the outside world in 1485. This explains the complicated political status of Walvis Bay down the years. The town is situat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. Although it does not border Zimbabwe, less than 200 metres (660 feet) of the Botswanan right bank of the Zambezi River separates the two countries. Namibia gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War of Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek. Namibia is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and the Commonwealth of Nations. The driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia has been inhabited since pre-historic times by the San, Damara and Nama people. Around the 14th century, immigrating Bantu peoples arrived as part of the Bantu expansion. Since then, the Bantu groups, the largest being the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Sailing Speed Record Council
The World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) was founded in 1972, initially to ratify records at the inaugural Weymouth Speed Week held every year since in Portland Harbor.The WSSRC is the body authorized by the World Sailing (formerly International Sailing Federation, International Yacht Racing Union) to confirm speed records of sailing craft (boats, windsurfers and kitesurfers ) on water (not on ice or land). In the early years the council only dealt with claims of speed records on a one-way leg of 500 metres. Since 1988 the WSSRC is also responsible for offshore sailing records, because there were several controversial claims about the times of long voyages. The first records recorded in 1972 were the Outright record of Sir Timothy Colman, ''Crossbow'', 26.30 knots (D class); ''Icarus'' 21.6 knots (B class); ''Mayfly'' 16.40 knots and Lief Wagner Smitt, windsurfer 13.6 knots. One or more meetings were held every year and since 2001 the council has had a permanent secretariat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
École Polytechnique Fédérale De Lausanne
École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plate ... flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoie, a French commune * École-Valentin, a French commune in the Doubs département * Grandes écoles, higher education establishments in France * The École, a French-American bilingual school in New York City Ecole may refer to: * Ecole Software, a Japanese video-games developer/publisher {{disambiguation, geo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydroptère
''Hydroptère'' is a French experimental sailing hydrofoil trimaran imagined by the yachtman Éric Tabarly. The Hydroptère project was managed by Alain Thébault, the design done by naval architects VPLP design and the manufacturing by a group of French high-tech companies. Its multihull hydrofoil design allows the sail-powered vessel to reach high speeds on water. The design is based on experience from a range of hydrofoil sailcraft that Thébault built in cooperation with Éric Tabarly since the 1980s. On 5 October 2008 she reached a record speed of , however this was over a shorter distance than the 500m necessary to qualify for an official world record. On 21 December 2008, the ''Hydroptère'' briefly reached near Fos-sur-Mer, but capsized and turtled shortly thereafter. On 4 September 2009, the ''Hydroptère'' broke the outright world record, sustaining a speed of for in of wind. In November 2009, she broke the barrier for a nautical mile with a speed of in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydrofoil
A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains speed, the hydrofoils lift the boat's hull out of the water, decreasing drag and allowing greater speeds. Description The hydrofoil usually consists of a winglike structure mounted on struts below the hull, or across the keels of a catamaran in a variety of boats (see illustration). As a hydrofoil-equipped watercraft increases in speed, the hydrofoil elements below the hull(s) develop enough lift to raise the hull out of the water, which greatly reduces hull drag. This provides a corresponding increase in speed and fuel efficiency. Wider adoption of hydrofoils is prevented by the increased complexity of building and maintaining them. Hydrofoils are generally prohibitively more expensive than conventional watercraft above a certain di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yellow Pages Endeavour
''Yellow Pages Endeavour'', or YPE, is an Australian sailboat designed for speed sailing, which held the outright 500 meter world record from October, 1993 to November, 2004, when it was taken by windsurfer Finian Maynard; ''Yellow Pages Endeavour'' still holds the C class record. ''Yellow Pages Endeavour'' has been succeeded in record attempts by the similarly designed ''Extreme 50'', renamed ''Macquarie Innovation'', built and operated by the same team. Design and construction Designed by Lindsay Cunningham, both boats are triscaph proa-like designs (though often referred to as a trimaran) intended for sailing in one direction. They have three hulls attached to a Y-shaped aka. The ama, or windward hull, contains the cockpit and controls for the two crew members. The remaining two hulls travel in line, forming a vaka, or leeward hull. The rigid wingsail is attached to the center of the Y. ''Yellow Pages Endeavour'' used a high aspect sail, while the ''Macquarie Inn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speed Sailing Record
Speed sailing records are sanctioned, since 1972, by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC). Records are measured either by average speed over a specified distance or by total distance traveled during a specified time interval. The three most sought after records are the: * ''500 metre (or "outright") record'' is held by Paul Larsen. On 24 November 2012 he sailed the Vestas Sailrocket 2 at 65.45 knots in Walvis Bay, Namibia. * ''Nautical mile record'' is held by Paul Larsen. On 18 November 2012 he sailed the Vestas Sailrocket 2 at 55.32 knots in Walvis Bay, Namibia. * ''24 Hour distance record'' is held by Pascal Bidégorry. On 1 August 2009 he sailed the Banque Populaire V 908 nautical miles (at 37.84 knots). This was while he was breaking the northern Atlantic record. 500 metre records Class records Last updated: 19 November 2012. Nautical mile records Day's run A ''Day's run'' is the distance traveled by a vessel in one day, normally measured ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speed Sailing
Speed sailing is the art of sailing a craft as fast as possible over a predetermined route, and having its overall or peak speed recorded and accredited by a regulatory body. The term usually refers to sailing on water, even though sailing on land and ice is progressively faster because of the lower friction involved. The World Sailing Speed Record Council is the body authorized by the World Sailing to confirm speed records of sailing craft (boats or sailboards) on water (not on ice or land). Sailing craft used The craft used vary from single sailor windsurfers or kitesurfers, to multi-hulls with crews of fifteen people. Many short course record attempts are made with boats based on the classic proa boat layout. Recent developments include hulls that rely on hydrofoils or planing hulls, which allow the hull to lift out of the water, and thereby increases speed by reducing friction. An example of a multihull hydrofoil design is the Hydroptère, designed by Alain Thébault. The des ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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