Not sure if its official yet but 65.37Knts
Congrates to the team for many years of hard work.
These guys have finally hit upon something special with their design and this will surly put the outright speed record out of reach of the humble kite and board forever and into the realms of multi million dollar efforts![]()
www.sailrocket.com/
i think a hydrofoil with a kite would be a great way of increasing your speed. youd be fckued if you came off though
$300k and 10 years of development went into the speed rocket. great effort and good he is an Aussie! bring on the kite challenges. bloody quick though!
i think kite surfers can beat that. the land kite record is 72 knots. No reason why it can't be duplicated on the water given the right conditions/set up/balls
... I used to know a guy who swears he broke the 20 knot barrier (crazy pommie Clive Clenso) on his windsurfer back in 1979 when no one was close. He was a mad inventer and made some crazy things, attempting to break the next barrier of 30 knot barrier. Once he made a jib for his windsurfer, extending the boom past the mast to hold a jib. Yeah, crazy idea but this was back in 1983 or 1984. The jib used to look similar to a jib on a square rigger, triangle thing. Looked crazy but he was out there coming up with ideas even back in 1984.
So, my guess is there are dudes out there who, similar to these sailrocket guys, who will make something crazy but with kites pushing the limits. How quick have kites and boards changed in the last few years so the next thing is just around the corner I bet.
Solid wing kite? Kite that changes its draft the faster you go .... !!!
Who knows hey!! ![]()
And perhaps in a reasonable depth of water
There are many out there that consider kiting not sailing and therefore should not be considered when it comes to outright sailing records. Why get into these BS arguments, just appreciate this achievement and their decade long commitment to achieve this goal.
Apparently one of the more difficult considerations, not mentioned on their website, was designing a slim hull that could accommodate 2 sets of oversize balls AND keep them safe on their ball shaking runs ![]()
So great to see crew pushing the envelope.