33+ knots in 16 knots of wind

[ChrisE]

Bit nippy, eh?

 

[FullCircle]

Mine does that keel up with full water tanks. Tch.

 

[ChrisE]

Yeah, but we're talking about a boat not your car....

 

[jimi]

How does that work then? Does that mean it would be 16.5 knots on a windless day?

 

[ChrisE]

Dunno, these clever chaps seem to know how to do it

 

[Fergus]

hydroptere is even more startling though!

 

[Twister_Ken]

Not for a moment would I pretend I know how it's done, but sailing faster than true wind speed is something sailboards and multihulls have been doing for a while now. All to do with creating more apparent wind than true (which even we plodders do going upwind), but doing it on a broad reach. Of course, that pulls the apparent forward, so these sorts of boats tend to look like they're beating, even when broad reaching (in relation to the true wind). It's also why the real flyers never sail on a dead run, coz that way it's imposs to go faster than the wind.