Yesterday evening we had our third session of tow testing of the bare platform.

It was a beautiful evening as we towed the wing-less platform up and down speed spot with the whole team taking turns in the boat and in the RIB in order to observe all aspects first hand.

We saw on our second session the day before that the addition of the first trial 'step' on the front float made a big difference to it's ability to release from the water and step up into planing mode.

THE NEW SECOND STEP GETS FITTED TO THE AFT UNDERSIDE OF THE FORWARD FLOAT. THE 'FIRST' STEP CAN BE SEEN FORWARD... BUT IN THE FIBREGLASS TROLLEY.

The new second 'step' on the rear underside of the hull quickly ventilated from behind at speeds as low as 3-4 knots. This enabled the up forces on the front of the float to win the battle and start lifting the hull upwards as speed increased. This in turn allows the first original step to 'get access' to the air and also ventilate. Voila... the hull keeps lifting and we are planing.

We wanted to see this work first hand before we went and added them to all the three floats. The back float was hence still suffering and struggling to break free from the water. We tried a few other trials with foils up and down and the beam swung fore and aft before deciding to head back in.

LAUNCHING THE 'CRITTER' (THE FOIL IS ONLY HALF LOWERED IN THE BOTTOM PICTURE).

Yesterday, we went back out with steps on all three hulls. The leeward hull is so lightly loaded without the wing on that the step really isn't necessary. I was hoping for a bigger change on the rear float. Whilst the step was an improvement, it seems that we still have a low speed where the aft float gets caught in the wave pattern generated from the front float. There is every chance that this might just be a phenomenon caused by tow testing and that the addition of the side force of the wing could break the whole 'loop' so we shouldn't get too concerned until we conduct some sailing trials.

It was interesting yesterday to watch the foil behaviour. We were typically towing at speeds around 15-17 knots. The fact is that the foil was virtually doing nothing and you could hear it rattling around in its locking mechanism rather than being forced against either the upward or downward limiters. When the foil is fully submerged when the boat is stationary, there is as much lifting area as there is downward pulling area. The effect is that when it has an angle of attack created by any side force i.e. a sail or a tow-line, the overall force is neither up or down.

You have to remember that the foils on our boats are actually pulling the boat down into the water. On most hydrofoilers the foils are there to lift the boat up and out of the water. On the Sailrocket designs, the angled/inclined wing does all the lifting and it is the foil that keeps us down. So... when we start off and the full foil is submerged, there is no 'net' down force from the foil but the wing is pulling up. As we accelerate and the wing powers up, it gradually begins to lift the boat up with it. This means that the foil rises and the top section comes out of the water only leaving the angled lower part in the water and this is the bit that does all the 'down' work. When the boat is hauling along at full steam, the back of the boat will naturally ride at the height where the up and down forces balance. If it gets 'bumped' too high then the balance will try and pull it down and visa versa.

This means we can only do so much towing the boat around without the addition of the actual sailing loads.

JEFFRO DOES A FLYBY OF THE TIMING HUT.

It sure was a beautiful evening. It was a perfect opportunity to let every other team member go for a ride. I really enjoyed seein Ben in the cockpit. It always surprised me to see boat builders spend so much time building boats only to see them go out the shed and the next set of plans come in. Surely the joy has to be in actually seeing what you have spent so long building in its element. This way you can truly appreciate what it is you are creating. It has to make the whole experience richer.

BEN GETS TO PLAY IN THE HOT SEAT OF THE BOAT HE PLAYED A LARGE PART IN BUILDING.

Helena was all concentration. She knows that she will have the option to pilot this machine for a record attempt at some stage... and she knows that that day may well be approaching. It's not talk anymore. What she does and how hard she pushes it is soley up to her. There will be no restrictions and if she wants to go for an outright attempt... then that will be her call. Yesterday she also got to drive it for the first time.

HELENA PAYS ATTENTION. SHE MAY WELL BE PILOTING THIS AT WELL OVER THREE TIMES THIS SPEED ONE DAY.

The only one missing was Hiskia... but he'll probably get his turn today.

The warm East wind was blowing lightly this morning which would indicate a nice but relatively windless day ahead. We will do one more session of tow testing where we will actually measure some of these loads... and then we will roll straight into the wing trials. We might be able to do both of these today if this wind settles a little so as not to corrupt the numbers.

I must admit that I am still a little concerned about the 'hump' drag. In respect to our situation, this 'hump' is the amount of drag that builds up before the boat makes the transition into 'planing' mode. You often see it in fast powerboats where they need to use a lot of power to get started but once they are up and planing on the surface of the water, they don't need so much power. This is because they have overcome this transition from low speed displacement mode to high speed planing mode. Some shapes do it better than others. We are discovering how big our 'hump' is right now and will try and use a few tricks to bend it to our will.

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL NAMIBIAN DAY COMES TO AN END. NOW FOR THE BRAII!

 We now have a heap of great video footage from on and off the boat which Helena is editing up. We will get it up soon. You will also be glad to know that we ran a successful live video feed from off the boat a couple of days ago. It basically involves an iphone 4... so looks like I have to get one whether I want to or not. When we get this weapon up to speed, you can all come for the ride. The Braii afterwards might be more difficult!!!

Cheers, Paul.