Updates
2009 update - the race to 50!
By now, news appears to have spread of our successful attempt at 50 knots. The response has been totally overwhelming and while we had been aware of the significance of exceeding the 50 knot mark for quite some time, it was astonishing to see and hear the extent of the world’s response to our efforts.
It has been the culmination of over 15 years of work for Lindsay Cunningham, his dedicated team and their supporters.
Fig 1: Macquarie Innovation’s designer, Lindsay Cunningham.
© Macquarie Speed Sailing Team
We have been advised that the record has been ratified and as a consequence, can now proudly claim the significant honour of being the first sailing boat to exceed 50 knots – a mark that many said could never be achieved and a mark that shared more than a passing resemblance to the 4 minute mile for running.
Fig 2: Macquarie Innovation clearing the sand hills and accelerating up to 100km/hr.
The 50 knot mark first became the principle target for our team in 1994 following our success with Yellow Pages Endeavour. With that craft having briefly exceeded 50 knots during a run leading up to its world record in October of 1993, we had always known that the design and philosophy behind the concept was more than capable of achieving a 50 knot run on the 500m course.
It finally took until the 26th March, 2009 on our 24th WSSRC attempt period, before we were able to realise our ultimate goal. Shortly before nightfall, Macquarie Innovation set sail for the first time in conditions approximating those in which the craft was designed to sail. Winds were consistently above 20 knots (average of 24 kts) and while the direction was some 20 degrees away from what we needed to have MI at her best, the extra wind strength made up for the reduction in efficiency.
Fig 3: Wind conditions finally improve at Sandy Point.
Watching the onboard telemetry come through from the anemometers on the course, the team knew that it was in with a real chance. Only a week before, we had come perilously close to exceeding our best speed set just before Christmas and now, for the first time, winds were not dropping into the dreaded 15 and 16 knot ranges. As MI was released from the shore crew, expectations were high. The sailing crew went about setting the boat up for the run.
Fig 4: The view into the crew pod from the windward beam on MI.
The early acceleration phase was always going to be a bit messy until MI escaped the lee of the sand hills ~100m into the course. From there, the reports from the crew pod were that MI was handling like it was on rails. The boat was quite clearly in its element and performing at the level and in the way we had always known that it could. In fact, the only disappointment occurred towards the end of the run as MI appeared to slowly bleed power as the poor angle of the true wind took hold (possibly in conjunction with a lull in the wind speed).
Fig 5: MI reflecting the setting sun as the 500m course is covered at over 50 knots.
By the end of the run, the team was aware that history had more than likely been made. The onboard, uncorrected data said that we had hit a maximum speed of around 100 km/hr and as MI was returned to her storage facility at the water’s edge, the team realised that this was indeed a unique and special occasion.
Fig 6: MI returning to base.
Once the Trimble data was fully analysed, we knew that our target had been achieved. MI had made yachting history by achieving a 500m run at 50.43 kts and in doing so, hit a maximum speed of 54.23 kts which exceeded 100 km/hr - all that in only 24 knots of wind which is about half the wind strength that is required by our nearest competitors.
Fig 7: Average wind strength from the remote anemometers during the record run.
Unfortunately, it has taken until now to be able to make further comment about our record claim due to the ratification process of the WSSRC. This is now through and we can begin considering what the future holds. It is clear that we have more performance left in MI. In her present configuration, MI travelled for just short of half the course at over 52 knots. The building sand dunes at Sandy Point blanketed the first part of the course and the poor wind direction meant that we were sailing well below our optimum towards the end. However, we are very excited and proud to have achieved our goal and given the current environment within the WSSRC/ISAF, we now have some important and difficult decisions to consider regarding our future.
While we believe that we are yet to fully extract MI’s best performance, recent rule changes and their associated interpretations appear to have left us with a craft that does not make the best use of these new rules. The most obvious of these new interpretations is the promotion of kinetics in the form of “slingshotting” or “catapulting”. The WSSRC’s position on this is clear and the following is part of their recommendation to ISAF regarding this previously outlawed form of propulsion.
“The so-called slingshot effect can produce an increased instantaneous speed, but only over a short distance and in a curved trajectory. Following this slingshot effect, speed decreases considerably and whilst a high speed for a short distance may have been achieved, the average over the full course is unaffected.”
This spurred us into some preliminary research, the results of which were quite astounding. By geometrically decoupling the power source from the craft, speeds in excess of twice that of the power source were easily achievable. What this means at full scale is that it could be possible to cruise down a 500m course at 40 knots and use this “boost” for as little as 5 seconds and still come away with a world record. At this stage, we decided to abandon testing as it was quite clear that the type of craft that was being developed had little or no resemblance to anything that anyone would associate with a sailing craft and it would be a direction that, at this stage, we were not happy taking the sport. However, for a potential competitor, it was a relatively easy way to optimise just one of the new techniques now being promoted by the sport’s governing body.
The second issue arising from these new WSSRC rules is that we are left with a venue that also appears to be at a disadvantage. Every year that we have been coming to Sandy Point, we have scheduled our 28 day WSSRC programs around public holidays, local windsurfing events and tidal periods that would limit the amount of possible sailing time. Because of the recent rule changes, we can now no longer do this which will leave us in direct contravention with local Government permits that are required to operate at Sandy Point. By encouraging us to sail on these “peak use” days, the WSSRC are promoting a behaviour that we, and our local authorities, consider to be unsafe and of a high risk nature. Consequently, we are left with the choice of either sailing at these high risk times or paying the WSSRC fee for days on which it will not be possible to sail, regardless of weather conditions. In addition to this, we have also been heavily penalised for wind blown current at Sandy Point where other venues have not been penalised for the same effect. Due to these two factors, we will find it very hard to justify to our team and supporters that a return to Sandy Point is feasible under present WSSRC conditions.
So our future appears uncertain. On one hand, we have achieved all that we set out to achieve and of this, we are very proud. We have sailed a yacht faster than anyone else on the planet. We have sailed that yacht to a speed that previously, many thought not possible. We have achieved sailing’s equivalent of the 4 minute mile of running and indeed, probably sailing’s version of the “sound barrier” for flight. These are all milestones by which future challengers will measure themselves and in doing so, will set Macquarie Innovation and our team its own place in the history books of world yachting.
Fig 8: Some members of the Macquarie Speed Sailing Team assembled after the record run.
On the other hand, should we choose to develop new goals, it is unlikely that these could be successfully achieved using MI or at Sandy Point under current WSSRC conditions. In the short term, we will continue to review these conditions and are not hurrying into any long term decisions. It is a very interesting time in the sport’s relatively short history and we will observe carefully the future developments.
We would again like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have provided such tremendous support to our team. We have been focussed on the 50 knot target for over 15 years and to deliver that goal over such an extended period, has taken an amazing level of patience and persistence. In no small way, the level of consistent support shown by well wishers from all over the world has been responsible for helping us achieve our ultimate goal. It is with our sincere thanks, that we pass on the team’s greatest appreciation to all those that have made contact with us over the years. The words may not have seemed significant to those that wrote them, nor seemed particularly important at the time of sending, but when we were faced with the variety of difficulties and adversity that we confronted so regularly, it was of great relief and encouragement to know that there were others out there who were taking an interest, and indeed, willing us on to our final goal – a goal that we are excited to have finally achieved.
The Macquarie Speed Sailing Team