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Making the World's Fastest Kayak

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the love-boats dept.

bart_scriv writes "BusinessWeek looks at the world's fastest kayak, which floats over the water rather than nosing through waves like more typical boats. Named 'Little Wing' for the fore and aft wings that add stability, the kayak is the creation of Ted Warren. An MIT-educated engineer, Warren 'played around for three years with 3-D wire mesh designs on his PC, crunching the numbers for speed and stability, then started building actual models to test in the waters near his Massachusetts home.'"

12 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Not the fastest with me in it by jeremymiles · · Score: 5, Funny
    It isn't going to float over the water in such a delicate fashion when you put 225 pounds of me in it.

    Still, at least the water might not slosh over the side, and into the kayak itself (or worse, the nose bury itself so deep in a wave that it comes over the front).

    --
    GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
    1. Re:Not the fastest with me in it by Upaut · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Thats funny, I'm 240 lb., and I never have any trouble when I kayak out to the sea for a week of random camping along the ocean (great way to drop some weight...). Kayaks themselves are VERY good at handling weight, and the rubber sphincter should be tight enough that water cannot get in.

      I hope that these engineering features can be used to develop better salt-water kayaks as well, as it may make my trips a little faster, so I can get more of the East Coast in.

      --
      3 degrees of separation from Vladimir Putin
    2. Re:Not the fastest with me in it by dr_dank · · Score: 4, Funny

      the rubber sphincter should be tight enough that water cannot get in.

      That's why the Goatse Class kayaks never really caught on.

      --
      Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
  2. Aftermarket enhancements for the kayak by Erectile+Dysfunction · · Score: 5, Funny

    "The addition of the fore and aft wings was a sound decision that earned the kayak approximately an extra 50HP," a California Institute of Technology professor of Aerodynamical Engineering commented adding, "but I am really eager to get one of this into my lab to see how much performance I can squeeze out by adding reducing the coefficient of drag with racing stripes and aft flames as well as introducing a chrome muffler to increase performance by another 25HP."

  3. Not even close to the world's fastest by Maximum+Prophet · · Score: 4, Informative

    It took this guy 3 hours to cross 13 miles. The world's fastest kayak can do 16.9 mph. http://www.kayakwisconsin.net/2006/01/blur.html

    --
    All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
  4. Nice, but I'd rather have a hydrofoil kayak by PapayaSF · · Score: 5, Informative

    Like this one. And did you all know that Alexander Graham Bell was a pioneer in hydrofoils?

    --
    Q: What does the "B." in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for? A: Benoit B. Mandelbrot
  5. What? by Red+Flayer · · Score: 4, Informative
    FTS:
    BusinessWeek looks at the world's fastest kayak, which floats over the water rather than nosing through waves like more typical boats.
    Huh? Not remotely -- this is not a hovercraft. This is simply an ultra-light kayak with a differently shaped hull based on racing boat designs.

    Nor is it the world's fastest kayak, at least not according to TFA. The best it's finished in a competitive race is 6 seconds out of 1st place.

    OK, it's pretty cool, and I'd like to take it on the Hudson sometime. But don't overhype it, please.
    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  6. fastest? by ceejayoz · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm guessing this one is faster. :-p

  7. Overhyped article - a planing hull kayak by truckaxle · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There are two types of hulls that you'll find in a boat (or kayak) - a planing hull and displacement hull. So this is a planing hull. The fact that it is designed by an MIT graduate using finite element analysis makes this news? And just what criteria are they using to make the claim that it is the "worlds fastest kayak"?

  8. Re:But can it go... by ChetOS.net · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, but can it run Linux?

    That is the real question.

    --
    "If God had intended us to walk he would not have invented roller skates." -- Willy Wonka
  9. Wow by VonSkippy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Perhaps next he can put that world class education to really important stuff like lighter golf clubs or more aerodynamic bowling balls.

  10. Speed and water resistance by pjunold · · Score: 5, Informative

    The expression 'world fastest kayak' is somewhat like 'world fastest running shoes'. Race kayaking is all about the motor and to a much lesser degree about the kayak.

    It makes much more sense to speak about the water resistance of various kayak designs. For some given athlete(balance skills, strength and technique) racing some given distance in some given conditions one could even speak of an optimal design. As a general example - the kayaks used for sprint racing are different from the kayaks used for marathon racing.

    On a related note genetic algorithms have been applied to the problem of finding an optimal hull given a number of constraints: http://www.cyberiad.net/library/kayaks/racing/raci ng.htm
    Nothing revolutionary turned out though.

    /Peter