In 2009 we set out to conclusively answer the following question... Can a vehicle be built which can go directly downwind, faster than the wind (DDWFTTW), powered only by the wind, steady state? On 3 July 2010 we established a world record by going directly downwind at 2.8 times the true wind speed with the Blackbird.
Now we have begun to modify the Blackbird with the intention of going directly UP-wind faster than the wind - steady state.
Unfortunately, the news this time is not happy. We learned today that Andrew Bauer passed on Sept 6. As our blog followers will recall, Andrew Bauer was not the original inventor of the concept, but did build the first successful DDWFTTW cart that anyone seems to know of. He did this to settle a friendly wager with colleague and notable aero engineer A.M.O. Smith in 1969. As we understand, the wager was based on a claim in a student's paper, written 20 years before, that DDWFTTW should in fact be possible. In some small way JB and I have tried to model ourselves after Andrew by doing the engineering and demonstrating the principle - rather than simply proving it on paper.
Over the course of the project JB and I have been lucky enough to talk with Andrew's wife, some of his colleagues, and now his son. All have been extremely friendly, helpful, and enthusiastic. Unfortunately, Andrew suffered from Alzheimer's and was not able to participate in the current round of silliness. But I think he would have enjoyed it.
Well, we exceeded our goal. On July 2nd, 2010 we set a world record going 2.8 times the wind speed directly downwind on the El Mirage dry lake bed in southern California. And then we became so complacent and lazy that we didn't even update our blog. You can read all about it on the NALSA (North American Land Sailors Association) website here: http://www.nalsa.org/DownWind.html
Our fastest run to date was approximately 54 mph. Our best speed ratio was a little more than 3.5 times the wind speed. Of course there are a number of requirements to establish an official record run with NALSA (for example we must be accelerating through the submitted portion of the run). Of the runs we did at El Mirage, the best run simultaneously meeting all NALSA requirements had us at 2.8 times the wind speed directly downwind. Given enough time to make lots of runs in lots of conditions we're confident we would achieve an official run of more than 3X wind speed. But we're plenty happy with the results we have.
