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Kayak and Canoe Design Bulletin Board
Re: Ever faster, by a decimal
Posted By: Mike Scarborough In Response To: Re: Ever faster, by a decimal (Ian Johnston)
Date: Saturday, 27 November 1999, at 12:24 p.m.
> Pete,
> I'm no expert but apparently this has to do with surface turbulance. There
> was a big thing in the media a few years back where someone discovered
> that a designed pattern on a surface resulted in less drag. The
> application they talked about was on jumbo jets and how this knurling
> would save X amount of fuel, reduce operating costs and result in lower
> ticket prices.> The problem was that each surface shape required a different pattern and
> this combined with increased manufacturing costs far outweighed the fuel
> savings.> I have thought of this application to a kayak as it should in theory
> provide many of the benifits we would want in a human powered vehicle
> operating in a fluid.This sounds a bit like some technology that surfaced in Americas Cup yacht racing a few years back. Designers found that microscopic grooves, parallel to the direction of flow, would reduce drag. I think the rules were amended to prohibit this technology because it was such a good way to piss away $$$. And there are not many people better at doing that than America's Cup challengers.
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