at the end of the hydrophoil stantion? HMMMMM…laird will try any thing he sees some one else doing…ambrose… and try and do it better before releasing the pictures to the press
That thing’s gonna hurt someone, but heck that happens alla time.
Ground effect works, I won’t dispute that. But I also think you lose the effect very rapidly if you gain a little altitude, and/or you roll to one side or the other a bit.
Imagine: you’re smoothly cruising along behind your pal’s Jet Ski or whatever. You’re three feet off the surface and all is well and good. You lean to one side a bit, you lose lift, you catch an edge, and suddenly you’re carwheeling along at 40 plus (that’s a good deal faster than we surf). The shit hits the fan, and maybe your craft whacks you (it’s gotta weigh more than a surfboard, you betcha) off go your remains to …
Ever seen a NASCAR racer get airborne? At 180 or so they can, and do, take off, basically on ground effect. Then what happens is… well, they’re not aerodynamically stable in flight… and they sorta go every which way… which is okay until they have to “land”…
SEA PLANE? OOOOOOOOHHHHHHH YYYYYEEEEAAHH ALLYA NEED IS A LAGOON OR A HARBOR THATS FLAT WATER OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH BAABY…SOLOMONS ?..ambrose …fantasy engaged
Being towed a few inches above the water might be cool for a while until it got boring. The someone would try to extend the applications to be towed into a wave on it, where all the problems with altitude and wind gust would most likely to cause a quick failure. But hey, the Wright Brothers only went how far in their first flight? Conceptually this technology is cutting edge and I bet is certain to only advance from it’s current state. Can you imagine standing riding waves of water, or wind, (or even solar ?!) on high-tech wing platforms? If it can be imagined, perhaps it can be realized.
Did anyone see the ’ Strapped’ dvd ?
Remember in the ‘extras’ footage ? There’s what I could only describe as a three foiled ‘water tricycle’ fanging along on flat water… [God knows if Laird will ride THAT contraption in 50 ’ surf ?? ]
Larry did say ‘anything is possible’ once !
ben
its still early here, am i missing something ?!
maybe these guys will tow into open ocean swells, only instead of a jet ski for power they will use/be “jet men” - picture this guy trailing a tow rope, 6 feet off the water at Cortes Bank.
Or, picture him with a board strapped to his feet, coming in for a landing right at the peak as the wave breaks…
Oh hell at that point, just forget the surfing part. FLY THRU THE FRIGGING BARREL. What a rush.
http://www.gizmo.com.au/public/News/news.asp?articleid=3280
The diagram of the wings looks a bit like Dale Solomonson’s tri-plane bodyboard.
hellfire…an ecranoplan,russians developed them quite a long way cos they were a better/faster invasion tool.
how can u surf a wave without TOUCHING it?
i doubt that you could get ot going fast enough to fly…if you could,its gonna out run almost any wave.
its gonna have to be big (lots of ‘wing’ area to make max use of ground effect),heavy and with laird on top…even heavier.
Best of luck to the guy
Quote:
…how can u surf a wave without TOUCHING it? i doubt that you could get ot going fast enough to fly…
welll…a surfer can air on a surfboard:THATS NOT CALLED FLYING
a skater can air from a ramp : THAT AINT FLYING either
think of the laws of gravity/aero dynamics and how they apply to a glider/sailplane…
you cant surf something that flys unless its a hydroplane,but that aint REALY flying either.
maybe the ecrano-glider would work if towed into a massive (ie,100ft+ faced) wave…is it classed as surfing?
in my eyes : NO.
Well I guess then only the Silver Surfer does truly fly !
now theres a thought…
maybe Laird is the Silver Surfer?