A couple of quick links to some awesome pictures I've seen recently. I would post the pictures, but their resolution is so high that it's best to go their pages.
The first one is from the inauguration. When you first go to the page you'll get the zoomed out version. The cool part is that you can zoom WAY in. Double click to zoom in and then give it a second bring in the high res version. You can also pan around by clicking and dragging. There is another version of this image that is annotated with the names of many of the famous people sitting on the Inaugural Platform.
The second picture was shot over the course of 20 days from the same spot at a train station in Berlin. It has 178 people in it and very few even realize they are being photographed. It's just people going about their daily business, which is something that I usually am moving (or thinking) too fast to see. You can pan through the image by moving your mouse along the smaller image at the bottom.
The last thing I'll post is a cool music video that Ray sent me. The band is called Bat for Lashes and the song is "What's a girl to do?" The lyrics are rather depressing but the melody is good and video is well worth at least one watch for its creative.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
There's fast and then there is REALLY fast
It's finally here, a blog post worth reading. I've been wanting to write about this topic for a couple of months and now I've got some footage that really brings it to life.
In New Zealand, my brother in law, Sean, and his crew, Dan, have taken their R-Class sailboat to a whole new level, literally. First, let me explain that the R-Class boats are basically rockets in the water. The boats are about 18 feet long, crewed by two people, extremely light and have huge sails. The design of the boats is pretty much unlimited too (other than length) which means they can really innovate. Here is a picture of their boat last year. Notice that it's barely in the water.
And now, here is a picture from this year. Notice anything different?
It's the two hyrdo-foils that they've added. When the boat gets up on the foils (which can happen even in pretty light wind) they almost completely erase friction from the water. And with that, they can almost double the speed of the other boats in their class. In a race that normally takes the fleet 40 minutes, they can finish in 25.
They were recently interviewed by a Kiwi TV station and they got some great footage of the boat sailing. Check it out HERE.
Of course, as you can see in the video clip, they haven't worked out all the bugs yet and still occasionally crash, which means going from 20 knots to zero in a few seconds. Yes, it's a dangerous sport and they do wear helmets. This particular crash was caused by a breakage of the main foil. Here's a closeup of what the foils look like on land (that's Sean on the left and Dan on the right).
Needless to say, next season you'll probably see more (if not all) the r-class boats with foils. One of the problems with being the innovator is that you are paving the way for your competitors (and they don't have to struggle as much). However, I fully expect Sean and Dan to do well, as they've won the National Championship for the R-Class even in the conventional boats.
One of the places Sean and Dan got inspiration from was another class of boat called a Moth. Moths are one person boats, but have adopted the foil technology, too. However, they've spent a million dollars and received corporate money for development. Sean and Dan are doing this on their own. Here is some really unique footage of the Moth's in action:
I'm not sure what they've got up their sleeve for their next trick, but I would love to see a Foil Boat Championships. Moths, R-Class and anyone else doing it. Let's see who is the the fastest in the water (or over it).
In New Zealand, my brother in law, Sean, and his crew, Dan, have taken their R-Class sailboat to a whole new level, literally. First, let me explain that the R-Class boats are basically rockets in the water. The boats are about 18 feet long, crewed by two people, extremely light and have huge sails. The design of the boats is pretty much unlimited too (other than length) which means they can really innovate. Here is a picture of their boat last year. Notice that it's barely in the water.
And now, here is a picture from this year. Notice anything different?
It's the two hyrdo-foils that they've added. When the boat gets up on the foils (which can happen even in pretty light wind) they almost completely erase friction from the water. And with that, they can almost double the speed of the other boats in their class. In a race that normally takes the fleet 40 minutes, they can finish in 25.
They were recently interviewed by a Kiwi TV station and they got some great footage of the boat sailing. Check it out HERE.
Of course, as you can see in the video clip, they haven't worked out all the bugs yet and still occasionally crash, which means going from 20 knots to zero in a few seconds. Yes, it's a dangerous sport and they do wear helmets. This particular crash was caused by a breakage of the main foil. Here's a closeup of what the foils look like on land (that's Sean on the left and Dan on the right).
Needless to say, next season you'll probably see more (if not all) the r-class boats with foils. One of the problems with being the innovator is that you are paving the way for your competitors (and they don't have to struggle as much). However, I fully expect Sean and Dan to do well, as they've won the National Championship for the R-Class even in the conventional boats.
One of the places Sean and Dan got inspiration from was another class of boat called a Moth. Moths are one person boats, but have adopted the foil technology, too. However, they've spent a million dollars and received corporate money for development. Sean and Dan are doing this on their own. Here is some really unique footage of the Moth's in action:
I'm not sure what they've got up their sleeve for their next trick, but I would love to see a Foil Boat Championships. Moths, R-Class and anyone else doing it. Let's see who is the the fastest in the water (or over it).
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